Small bushy clumps are scattered over the plains, and flourish with peculiar vigour along the water-courses. They consist of various shrubs. The traveller will not fail to notice a whole series of Leguminosæ--_Chlorozoma_, _Pultenæa_, _Viminaria_, _Mirbelia_, _Podolobium_ (all are shrubs of exceeding elegance, and now form the rare ornaments of our English gardens); of Epacridæ--_Epacris stiphelia_, _E. leucophogon_, and others, which have also been imported into our home-parterres; a great number of Euribias, a genus of subfrutescent Compositæ, of which a few are rendered interesting by their heathlike foliage; the _Pimelea axiflora_, whose supple and tenacious bark is fashioned into bands and straps; the _Myrsine variabilis_, with its woody stems and drupaceous fruit; the _Aralia crassifolia_, a singular shrub, with long, narrow, and very rigid leaves; the _Callistemon salignum_ (vulgarly called "stonewood"), employed for xylographic purposes; the _Casuarina equisetifolia_,[118] or "Swamp Oak"--also called "Cassowary Tree"--a lofty tree, with very durable wood, long, slender, drooping, emerald-green branches, and conical fruit, inclosing small winged nuts; various species of Melaleuca, yielding the green aromatic oil called cajaputi or cajeput oil, valuable as a stimulant or antispasmodic; finally, some Cordylines, or Tis, plants of the natural order Liliaceæ, and nearly allied to the Dragon's Blood Tree, attaining a height of ten to fifteen feet, with a berry-like fruit, and lanceolate leaves of a reddish hue, which afford a nutriment for cattle, thatch for houses, and whose fibres are frequently made into cloth. The root, when baked, is much used as an article of food, and the fermented juice yields an intoxicating beverage. [Illustration: VEGETABLE LIFE ON THE AUSTRALIAN PLAINS. 1. Doryanthes excelsa. 2. Aralia crassifolia. 3. Dryandra repens. 4. Cordyline congesta.]