Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia eBook

Philip Parker King
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 567 pages of information about Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia.

Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia eBook

Philip Parker King
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 567 pages of information about Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia.

The genus Pandanus has ever been viewed by botanists as equinoctial; nor was it till recently ascertained satisfactorily, that one of its species (P. pedunculatus, Brown) exists on the shores of Port Macquarie in New South Wales, in latitude 31 degrees South:  and I have been credibly informed, that the same plant is frequent in the vicinity of Port Stephens, which is at least a degree to the southward of the above parallel.  The latitude of 32 degrees South may be considered the utmost extreme of ranges from the equator of the genus in Terra Australis, on the opposite shore of which, as also in all other countries, it has not been remarked beyond the tropics.

The palms of Terra Australis, which (as previously observed) are remarkably limited on the north-western shores, have a very considerable diffusion on the North and East Coasts, and have even a more general dispersion on the latter shores, than has been allowed them formerly.  Seaforthia is frequent in dense forests on the East Coast, almost to latitude 35 degrees South, where it exhibits all the tropical habits assumed on the northern shores, although the difference of climate, and consequent temperature, are abundantly obvious.  On the other hand, a palm of very robust growth, with large flabelliform fronds, and spinous foot-stalks, was remarked at the head of Liverpool River, in latitude 12 degrees South, on the North Coast; and although without fructification, no doubt existed of its being the Corypha australis, hitherto limited to the shores and vicinity of Port Jackson.

Araucaria excelsa.  The Norfolk Island pine, which, without doubt, must have been particularly noticed by the celebrated circumnavigator Captain Cook, in 1770, on the discovery of New South Wales, although the circumstance of the very general existence of a pine upon the islands and main of that coast, north of the Percy Isles, does not appear to be mentioned in the accounts of that particular voyage, has a far more extensive range upon that shore than has been hitherto understood.  During the Mermaid’s voyages, Araucaria was observed in the vicinity of Mount Warning, in New South Wales, which lies in the parallel of Norfolk Island (29 degrees South); thence northerly it was very sparingly seen towards the tropic, within which, however, as far as latitude 14 degrees, it is very abundant, forming upon several islands the only timber.  This is probably the nearest approach of the species to the equinoctial line; and although it occupies an area of nine hundred miles, it is very probably limited in Terra Australis to its immediate shores; and, as appears to be the case with Pandanus, exists only within the influence of the sea air.

Calladium macrorhizon, Willd., formerly observed by Sir Joseph Banks, at Endeavour River, on the East Coast, has been recently detected in moist woods, in the country off which the Five Islands are situate, extending on that shore to latitude 35 degrees South:  and Schelhammera multiflora, Br., a delicate plant of Melanthaceae, discovered likewise at Endeavour River, abounds in shady forests, in latitude 31 degrees, upon the same extensive coast.

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Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.