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Baron Huegel visited the Swan River colony and made a big collection. Altogether, at the time of Cunningham's death the tabulated flora had reached to about 6,000 species of flowering plants, and some considerable progress had been made in systematically grouping them. Thenceforth and until the era of the gold discoveries many collectors were at work in the more accessible or settled parts. Ludwig Preiss in 1838, and Backhouse a little later, made extensive collections in both Eastern and Western Australia; Lawrence, Caley, Hooker, and Ronald Gunn added extensively to the eastern flora—Gunn essaying a complete collection of all the plants of Tasmania. At Albany in 1848 Maxwell established himself in business as a collector and exporter of native plants and seeds.

With the era of gold-digging came a prosperity which enabled the colonies to expend money for scientific or aesthetic purposes. The State garden established in Melbourne was fortunate in having appointed to it as Director and Colonial Botanist the late Baron von Mueller. For the development of Australian botany this was a most happy appointment, for the hour and the man had both arrived. The Baron’s work in Victoria, supplemented by the work of Dr. Woolls in Sydney and of Professor Tate in Adelaide, practically completed the pioneer work in Australian botany and established it on a sound natural basis, which further workers may expand, but which further discoveries are little likely to alter. In ail the Australian States now there are established botanic gardens maintained at the Government expense, and each State has a department of botany. The economic phase has been developed in forestry and agriculture, and the Technological Museums and the Public Libraries are so well stocked with specimens and botanical literature that the study of Australian botany is now easy to cultivate, either in its purely scientific aspect or as science applied to industry.

Hovea.	Grevillea.	Boronia.

The full flora of Australia, inclusive of the higher seaweeds and fungi, probably runs to over 10,000 species. Of the vasculare or veined-leaf plants the list of authoritatively-established and fully-recognized species approaches 9,000 and new discoveries continually increase the number. The complete working up of all this material we owe to many hands working more or less independently; from which circumstance many species have been several times named and new systems of classification and groupings frequently introduced. Botany is a progressive science, and it is well to remember that the systematic study of Australian plants grew with the schools founded by the giants of the eighteenth century. Sir Joseph Banks was not a botanical writer, but he was a great collector and helper of other botanical workers. Solander, his fellow-traveller, was a British Museum official who had but little time for writing, though as a pupil of the great Linnæus he was well able to do so. Another pupil of Linnæus, named J. Rheinold Forster, was botanist of Cook's second voyage, and on his return he wrote much concerning Australian botany. Sir J. E. Smith published a small number of illustrations of Australian plants in 1793, and De la Billiardiere (or Labilliardiere) published in Paris in 1804-6 a summary of Australian results to that date, including his own work as naturalist to the D'Entrecasteaux expedition.