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
SAPINDACEAE. Of the very few plants referred to the family in the
Herbarium, two genera are only worthy of remark here, the one an
Ornitrophe, found on the East Coast, in about latitude 35 degrees, as
also within the tropic; and the other, which appears to belong to
Stadmannia, was discovered upon the same coast, in latitude 31 degrees
South, the type of the genus being the bois de fer of the French
colonists, a timber tree indigenous at the Island of Mauritius.
MALVACEAE, Juss. Tiliaceae, Juss. Sterculiaceae, Vent. Buttnericeae,
Brown. These several families, of which the first is by far the most
extensive, have been viewed by Mr. Brown, as so many allied orders of one
natural class, to which the general title of Malvaceae might be applied.
About thirty-six species of these orders collectively, are preserved in
the present Herbarium, referable at least to eleven genera, of which nine
are most abundant in (and form a characteristic feature of) the botany of
India, and the equinoctial parts of South America. Fourteen species of
Hibiscus and Sida were observed on the intratropical Coasts of Australia,
beyond which also, on the opposite shores of the continent, each genus
has been remarked. One species of Bombax with polyandrous flowers, and
subspherical obtusely pentagonal capsules, was discovered upon the East
Coast, in about latitude 14 degrees South, and on nearly the western
extreme of the same parallel, it appeared much more abundant. Of
Sterculia which is scarcely to be found beyond the tropics in other
countries, a species exists in New South Wales in the latitude of 34
degrees, on which parallel it is more frequent in the western interior,
and in that direction it has been traced to the distance of three hundred
miles from the sea-coast. The genus is also found on the North and
North-west Coasts, where the species assume more particularly the habits
of their congeners in India. Among the plants of this family in the
Herbarium is a species of Helicteris (as the genus stands at present)
which was observed on the North-west Coast bearing fruit, wanting the
contortion that characterizes the genus.
This plant, together with three other described species, having straight
capsules, may hereafter be separated from that Linnean genus, and
constitute a new one of themselves. Grewia, Corchorus, Triumfetta, and
Waltheria, have been observed upon the North-west Coast, where also
Abroma, hitherto limited to the tropical parts of New South Wales, has
been discovered bearing flowers and young fruit. One species of
Commersonia was gathered at widely-different parts of the north-western
shores, and Lasiopetalum, whose species are more general at both extremes
of the parallel of the colony of Port Jackson, has been also seen just
within the tropic on the East Coast, and at Dirk Hartog's Island, off
Shark's Bay, on the opposite shore.
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