Page:The Journal of Indian Botany.djvu/589

CURRENT LITERATURE. 153 running up to over 13,000 feet and of a rainfall which varies Irom 15 inches at sea level to 600 at 5,000 feet, the virtual absence of these families is very striking, and illustrates the smallness of range of seed-distribution by natural means.

P. F. F.

Lewis F. Notes on a visit to Kunadiyaparawita Mountain, Ceylon. Jour. Linn S c. xlv. No. 302* 9s.

The object of this paper is to " draw attention to the influence upon plant distribution of very special environment." The mountain is cut off from all those round it by very deep valleys, and the summit may be regarded as an elevated island, of 5000 ft, altitude, in a sea of forest. It meets with the full force of the S. W. monsoon, but during the N. E. the air is very calm. The flora of the summit is entirely endemic, there being no introduced plants, though these are so common in other parts of Ceylon, at the same eleva- tion. And the endemic flora is not typical of such elevations. Thus the common Rhododenron is entirely absent, and a Kendrickia sp. growing 20 miles away in a broad belt between 3000 and 4500 ft, is here confined to between 4000 and 4500 ft. The author thinks that the steepness of the slopes by preventing heavy seeds and fruits from lodging or finding a foothold, the strong wind and humid atmosphere, and the inaccessibility of the moun- tain to human beings, has been the cause of the freedom from plants of other countries ; and that " a high percentage of endemics may always be associa- ted with exceedingly steep mountains and that the narrowness of the vertical distribution in these instances is attributable to physical conditions of preponderating power."

P. F. F.

Wilson, E. H., Notes from Australasia No. I Jour. Arnold Ar- boretum II, 3* $1.

This is a short but graphic account of the vegetation of Australia south and east of Fremantle. We are reminded at the outset of the enormous difference between the flora of this continent and of the old or the new world. "The remarkable Grasstree (Kingia) and the Blackboy (Xanthorrhoea) of Western Australia, probably of an earlier flora than any other living trees, seem out of place in the absence of pachydermous animals and .... the presence of the extinct gigantic Saurians of the Jurassic age would be in keeping with these strange and ancient types of vegetation."

The southern part of Western Australia " is a veritable botanical garden crammed with an astonishing variety of plants bearing a wealth of curious flowers of intense and vivid colours ". Herbs we read are comparatively few, but there are gigantic Droseras. The shrubs when not in flower are strongly alike, because of their narrow or spiny leaves, and are mostly Pro- teaceae with Callistemons and others, all with gorgeous flowers. All the large tree3 are species of Eucalyptus, the smaller of Casuarina, Mellaleuca, Hakea etc. There are only four climbing plants and they are slender. The Eucalyptus are really wonderful trees. E. Salmonophloia grows, rooting only near the surface, to a height of 100 ft. and a girth of 10 ft. with a rain- fall of only 5 to 10 inches ; another species E. macrocarpa has flowers up to 7 inches across. The tallest and most beautiful is the Karri, E. diversicolor