Book contents
- Frontmatter
- AUTHOR'S PREFACE
- Contents
- ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VII
- CHAPTER VIII
- CHAPTER IX
- CHAPTER X
- CHAPTER XI
- CHAPTER XII
- CHAPTER XIII
- CHAPTER XIV
- CHAPTER XV
- CHAPTER XVI
- CHAPTER XVII
- CHAPTER XVIII
- CHAPTER XIX
- CHAPTER XX
- CHAPTER XXI
- CHAPTER XXII
- CHAPTER XXIII
- CHAPTER XXIV
- CHAPTER XXV
- CHAPTER XXVI
- CHAPTER XXVII
- CHAPTER XXVIII
- CHAPTER XXIX
- APPENDIX
- I AN OUTLINE OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
- II GEOLOGY
- III FLORA
- IV FAUNA
- INDEX
- MAP OF AUSTRALIA
- MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE AUTHOR'S TRAVELS IN QUEENSLAND
- Frontmatter
- AUTHOR'S PREFACE
- Contents
- ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VII
- CHAPTER VIII
- CHAPTER IX
- CHAPTER X
- CHAPTER XI
- CHAPTER XII
- CHAPTER XIII
- CHAPTER XIV
- CHAPTER XV
- CHAPTER XVI
- CHAPTER XVII
- CHAPTER XVIII
- CHAPTER XIX
- CHAPTER XX
- CHAPTER XXI
- CHAPTER XXII
- CHAPTER XXIII
- CHAPTER XXIV
- CHAPTER XXV
- CHAPTER XXVI
- CHAPTER XXVII
- CHAPTER XXVIII
- CHAPTER XXIX
- APPENDIX
- I AN OUTLINE OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
- II GEOLOGY
- III FLORA
- IV FAUNA
- INDEX
- MAP OF AUSTRALIA
- MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE AUTHOR'S TRAVELS IN QUEENSLAND
Summary
Scarcely a flora is to be found with so many peculiarities as the Australian. Still this does not imply that the things which appear so remarkable to the traveller are of equal interest to the botanist, though often they are more so. It is often stated as a curiosity that the Australian “ cherry-trees” have the stone outside of the berry, and not inside, as with us in Europe. As a matter of fact this is nothing remarkable, the explanation being simply that what we call the fruit is merely an enlarged berry-like stalk, while the fruit proper is an unsavoury nut, hard as stone, growing at the extreme end of this stalk. Hence the tree is called Exocarpus (“outside fruit”). Similar phenomena are found in other parts of the world.1 The Australian “pear” grows with the large end nearest the stalk; but it is not a pear, just an inedible fruit, hard as wood, of a Proteacea called Xylomelum pyriforme.
This is not uncommon near Port Jackson. Another species of the same genus inhabits Queensland, and two others Western Australia; all bearing similar woody fruits or seed-vessels.
The arboreous and shrubby vegetation of Australia is almost exclusively evergreen, or rather one might say the leaves are persistent, for the beautiful shades of green characterising the forests and fields of the northern hemisphere are wanting, and are replaced by a monotony of olive-green or bluish-green. On the other hand, brilliantly coloured flowers abound, the natural orders Leguminosæ, Myrtacece, and Proteacea being especially numerous, diversified, and generally dispersed over the whole country.
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- Among CannibalsAn Account of Four Years' Travels in Australia and of Camp Life with the Aborigines of Queensland, pp. 369 - 375Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1889