liquid which flows from severed stem and drips from the cut bunch? Dig
into the soil and no trace of even dampness is there; but rather parched
soil and unnatural warmth, almost heat. Heat and moisture are the
elements which enable one of the most succulent of plants to bear a bunch
of fruit luscious and refreshing, and when heat alone prevails, the
wonder is that the whole patch of luxuriant greenness does not collapse
and wither. But the broad leaves woo the cool night airs, and while the
thin, harsh, tough foliage of the wattles becomes languid and droops and
falls, the banana grove retains its verdancy, each plant a reservoir of
sap.

A noteworthy feature of the botany of the coast of tropical Queensland is
its alliance with the Malayan Archipelago and India. Most of the related
plants do not occur in those parts closest to other equatorial regions in
the geographical sense, but in localities in which climate and physical
conditions are similar. Probably there are more affinities in the coastal
strip of which this isle is typical than in all the rest of the continent
of Australia. One prominent example may be mentioned-viz., "the
marking-nut tree." When the distinctiveness of the botany of the southern
portions of Australia from that of the old country began to impress
itself on the earliest settlers, the miscalled native cherry was the very
first on the list of reversals. The good folks at home were told
that the seeds of the Australian cherry "grow on the outside." The
fruit of the cashew or marking-nut tree betrays a similar feature
in more pronounced fashion. The fruit is really the thickened,
succulent stalk of the kidney-shaped nut. The tint of the fruit
being attractive, unsophisticated children eat of it and earn
scalded lips and swollen tongues, while their clothing is stained
indelibly by the juice. Botanists know the handsome tree as SEMECARPUS
AUSTRALIENSIS, but by the indignant parent of the child with tearful and