WCP3544

[1]

Hunter's Hill, N. S. W.

26 Dec^r 09

Mr dear Dr Wallace

I am posting this with a copy of D^r Wooll's¹ census (record) of the County of Cumberland, the area of which he gives as 914,800 acres = 1430 sq miles. The number of Cotyledon Plants enumerated I make out to be 1239. There are several species, which I have found not included but they will not make a great difference, I notice, in looking through for instance two species of Casuarina and of Melaleuca, which Baron F. Mueller² named after me — it is impossible to get a complete list of any area. Something is always turning up that is near to the neighbourhood.

Mr Hedley³ has kindly got D^r Chapman's⁴ Flora of Mosman (about 2 square miles) [2]

marked in the same Census. D^r Chapman has evidently paid no attention to the Rushes, Cyperaceae, or Grasses.

Since 1883 I have been living on the Parramatta River — for seven years at Gladesville, the rest of the time at Hunter's Hill. I made a pretty careful examination of the locality as for some years I used to spend hours of my Saturday and Sunday afternoons searching the district. I send you a list of the number of plants found according to the natural orders, which may be useful. The area which I have taken as roughly 20 square miles runs about 5 miles up and down the Parramatta River, including Hunter's Hill, Gladesville and Ryde and takes in both shores of the Parramatta River and a good part of the Lane Cove [3] River. It is a well defined compact area about 5 miles long and 4 miles broad and the list is one which I think you may rely on. Probably, any careful person would tend to increase the list, but not by very many as there are not many patches of ground that I have not been over. A great deal of the country is now destroyed from a botanical point of view, as buildings and the trampling of the ever increasing population of Sydney has probably caused the extermination of many species. I always [illeg.] myself fortunate that I saw the greater part of Gladesville and Ryde in its primeval beauty.

Mr A G Hamilton⁵ has promised to send me the results of his collection at Mt Kembla (Illawarra District) Mount

[4]

Myrtaceae	55	Convolvulaceae	6
Rhamnaceae	4	Solanaceae	2
Araliaceae	4	Scrophulariacea	4
Umbelliferae	13	Bignonaceae	1
Santalaceae	4	Acanthaceae	2
Olacineae	1	Labritae	11
Loranthaceae	6	Verbenaceae	4
Proteaceae	35	Epacrideae	25
Thymeleae	2	Coniferae	2
Rubiaceae	6	Orchieae	59
Compositae	32	Irideae	2
Campanulaceae	7	Amaryllideae	3
Nylideae	2	Liliaceae	21
Goodeniaceae	6	Philhydreae	1
Gentianaceae	2	Hyrideae	1
Loganiaceae	3	Typhaaceae	2
Plantagineae	1	Alismaceae	1
Primulaceae	1	Najindeae	3
Myrsinaceae	2	Kerolidzae	4
Jasminaceae	2	Imiceae	7
Apocynaceae	1	Restinaceae	3
Asclepiadaceae	2	Eriobaulus	1

[5]

Centrolepidae	1
Cyperaceae	30
Graminideae	31

Total 618 species

The arrangement of the Natural order is that adopted in Dr Wooll's census

HD 26.12.09