Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/135

 blackwood of the settlers. It is a beautiful tree, something like the ilex or holm oak of England, but of a brighter green. In rich lands (of which, indeed, it is a common indication) it grows to a considerable size, and the timber is sometimes used for making furniture. The gold, the silver, the green, and black wattles (of the settlers), with several others which have received no distinctive names, are varieties of this family. They are all very graceful shrubs, and though differing from each other in several respects, are all adorned in spring with clusters of golden flowers, which have the perfume of the, May-thorn. The bark of the green and black wattles is that which forms so valuable an article of export. Most of the varieties of mimosa produce a gum which is highly adhesive, transparent, and tasteless, having, in fact, much of the qualities of the gum-arabic. When to these are added the bright green cherry tree, or Australian cypress, the melancholy sheoak, and the deformed honeysuckle, there is left but little in addition to the minor shrubs to fill up the forests of this part of Australia, which, however, are deficient neither in beauty nor variety. It is known to most people, that all the trees of this country are evergreen; but the leaves being small, the foliage light, and the colour of the young shoots of the tenderest green, they have nothing of that gloom which has induced a French writer to characterize evergreens as the mourning robe of summer, but the gay attire of winter. On the edges of swampy rivers, and in swamps generally, grows the tea tree, which is so called from its leaves being occasionally used as a substitute for tea. It is a