This Malayan flora is best developed in northeast Queensland, some of the forms like the pitcher plants (Nepenthes) and certain genera of palms (Borassus, Areca, Caryota, etc.) being confined to the York Peninsula, Australia's northernmost extension, which is separated from New Guinea by only about 100 miles of water.

Some of the Malayan types, like Cedrela and two or three palms, and a considerable number of others, extend southward to the borders of Victoria; but this vegetation is confined to regions of ample rainfall and rich soils, and the number of these Malayan types diminishes rapidly toward the south.

While the scrub vegetation is made up for the most part of the Malayan types there are a number of genera probably of Australian origin. Such are the fine trees Tristanea (allied to Eucalyptus) the silky oak (Grevillea robusta), Stenocarpus and Macadamia of the Proteaceae, a family which reaches its maximum development in Australia.

The luxuriant scrub-forest disappears as one proceeds inland, and with the diminishing precipitation is replaced by the open Eucalyptus forest. Still further inland in Queensland are extensive open grass lands or prairies which afford pasturage to great herds of cattle.1

To the south of Queensland is the state of New South Wales, the first colony to be established in Australia. The coastal region is a continuation of that of southern Queensland and has much the same vegetation as the latter, but the Malayan elements diminish toward the south, where there is an increasing proportion of true Australian types such as Eucalyptus and Acacia. The scrub, however, retains a decidedly tropical aspect, with tall palms and treeferns in abundance.

Much the greater part of the state, however, is far too dry for such forest growth, and is occupied by a very different type of vegetation. This is almost purely of Australian origin and is more or less decidedly xerophytic in character. The predominant trees are various species of Eucalyptus forming open forests with the sandy soil between occupied by a great variety of low shrubs, often with extremely showy flowers. Herbaceous plants are less conspicuous, although there are coarse grasses and a good many perennial plants growing from tubers, corms or bulbs. The Myrtaceae, so abundant in Australia, have numerous species of Leptospermum and Melaleuca; the Leguminosae include many species of Acacias, "Wattle" in the vernacular, and a bewildering array of showy Papilionaceae; several beautiful species of Boronia

1 Maiden, J. H.: "Australian Vegetation," p. 207. Federal Handbook for Australia, Melbourne, 1914.

and Eriostemon (Rutaceae) and many other striking and unfamiliar flowers abound. The Proteaceae, as everywhere in Australia, are much in evidence, the most abundant being species of Hakea, Banksia and Grevillea. To this family belongs one of the most gorgeous of Australian flowers, the "Waratah," whose magnificent scarlet flowers are the pride of New South Wales. Another very striking plant peculiar to New South Wales may be mentioned the giant torch lily (Doryanthes excelsa), bearing an enormous cluster of great scarlet lilies on a stout stalk ten or fifteen feet in height.

Victoria, the smallest state, occupies the southeast corner of Australia, and is about the size of Kansas. It is the best cultivated, and apparently the most prosperous state of the commonwealth. Much of the state has a climate adapted to the cultivation of most crops of the north temperate zone, and better suited to the North European settlers than the hotter parts of Australia. Its smaller size and more uniform rainfall result in a lesser variety of vegetation than in the larger states; but in the mountain districts of the east are found the tallest trees in Australia, close rivals of the California redwood. These forests of giant gums with their heavy undergrowth of tree-ferns and other luxuriant vegetation are among the finest in the world. Where the forest has been cleared, the land is some of the best in the commonwealth.

The distinctive Australian flora is seen at its best in West Australia. This immense state occupies the entire western third of the continent, and is almost completely separated from the eastern states by extensive deserts, and is itself very largely a region of extremely low rainfall. There is, however, a small region occupying the extreme southwest portion, which has a fairly heavy rainfall, and this district possesses a flora which for variety and beauty has scarcely a rival anywhere in the world.

Travelling overland from Victoria one traverses the rather uninteresting state of South Australia, and then proceeds by the recently completed line over the desert to West Australia.

This desert is not unlike certain parts of our own western arid regions, often suggesting parts of Nevada or Arizona. While extensive tracts show only sparse salt-bush (Atriplex, Kochia), much resembling the sage-brush deserts of Nevada or Utah, more often there is a fairly heavy growth of small trees, interspersed with low shrubs, and sometimes bunch grasses and a few flowering herbaceous plants.

The commonest trees are, as usual, species of Eucalyptus, but other abundant trees are species of Casuarina, whose thin leafless twigs simulate the needles of a pine. These curious trees, while not exclusively Australian, being also found in the Malayan region, reach their maximum development in Australia.