Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia — Vol. 2: Performed between the years 1818 and 1822King, Philip Parker
History
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia — Vol. 2: Performed between the years 1818 and 1822
King, Philip Parker
Australia -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Australia
GOODENOVIAE. The Herbarium contains very few specimens of this
considerable Australian family, the greater mass existing in and to the
southward of the parallel of Port Jackson. The order is reduced to
Goodenia, Scaevola, Velleia, and the tropical Calogyne on the North-west
Coast, and the few species of the two first genera prove to have been
formerly discovered upon the South Coast during the voyage of Captain
Flinders, of which one plant has alsa a much more extensive range than
has been given it heretofore. It is Scaevola spinescens, which forms a
portion of the harsh, rigid vegetables of Dirk Hartog's Island on the
West Coast, and from that shore probably occupies a part of a very
considerable extent of barren country in the interior, in a direction
towards the East Coast, having been seen in abundance in the latitude of
Port Jackson, so near that colony as the meridian of 146 degrees 30
minutes East. A new Velleia, discovered on the North-west Coast in
latitude 16 degrees, augments that genus, belonging to the section with a
pentaphyllous calyx.
RUBIACEAE. The existence of several plants of this extensive family in
the intratropical parts of Terra Australis especially when aided by some
individuals of almost wholly exotic tribes, that form a prominent feature
in the Flora of other equinoctial countries, tend, in some measure, to
diminish the peculiar character of the vegetation of Terra Australis on
those shores, and thus it is a considerable assimilation to the Flora of
a part of a neighbouring continent that has been traced. About thirty
species are preserved in the collections of these voyages, for the most
part belonging to genera existing in India, but more abundant in the
tropical parts of South America.
Of these, Gardenia, Guettarda, Cephaelis, Coffea, Psychotria, and
Morinda, are found on the East Coast; whilst, in corresponding parallels
on the opposite, or north-western shores, the order, although not
materially reduced, is limited to the two latter genera, with Rondeletia,
Ixora, and Genipa.
It is worthy of remark, that the range of Psychotria, which has not been
observed beyond the tropics in other countries, extends in New South
Wales as far south as the latitude of 35 degrees; at the western
extremity of which it does not appear to exist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account