an Australian flower. There arethree species, belonging to the genus Telopea, N.O. Proteaceae. The New South Wales species, T. speciosissima, R. Br., forms a small shrubgrowing on hill-sides, as does also the Tasmanian species, T. truncata, R. Br.; the Victorian species, T. oreades, F. v. M., called the GippslandWaratah, grows to a height of fifty feet. It has a brightcrimson flower about three inches in diameter, very regular.Sometimes called the Australian or Native Tulip.As emblematic of Australia, it figures on certain of the NewSouth Wales stamps and postcards. The generic name, Telopea (q.v.), has been corrupted into Tulip (q.v.). Its earliest scientific generic name was Embothrium, Smith.
1793. E. Smith, `Specimen of Botany of New Holland,' p. 19:
«The most magnificent plant which the prolific soil of New
Holland affords is, by common consent both of Europeans and
Natives, the Waratah.»
1801. Governor King, in `Historical Records of New SouthWales' (1896), vol, iv. p. 514 (a Letter to Sir Joseph Banks):
«I have also sent in the Albion a box of waratahs, and theearth is secured with the seed.»
1802. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' vol. ii.p. 66:
«Bennillong assisted, placing the head of the corpse, nearwhich he stuck a beautiful war-ra-taw.»
1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 98:
[Description, but not the name.]«A plant called the gigantic lily also flourishes on the topsof these mountains, in all its glory. Its stems, which arejointy, are sometimes as large as a man's wrist, and ten feethigh, with a pink and scarlet flower at the top, which when infull blossom (as it then was) is nearly the size of a smallspring cabbage.»
1830. `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 66:
«Interspersed with that magnificent shrub called warratah ortulip-tree, and its beautiful scarlet flowers.»
1857. D. Bunce, `Australasiatic Reminiscences,' p. 44:
«The most common of them was, however, the Telopia [sic]Tasmaniensis, or waratah, or scarlet tulip tree, as it hasbeen occasionally termed by stock-keepers.»
1864. J. S. Moore, `Spring Life Lyrics,' p. 115:
«The lily pale and waratah bright
Shall encircle your shining hair.»
1883. D. B. W. Sladen, `Poetry of Exiles':
«And waratah, with flame-hued royal crown,
Proclaim the beauties round Australia's own.»
1885. Wanderer, `Beauteous Terrorist,' etc., p. 62:
«And the waratahs in state,
With their queenly heads elate,
And their flamy blood-red crowns,
And their stiff-frill'd emerald gowns.»
1888. D. Macdonald, I Gum Boughs,' p. 188:
«Outside the tropical Queensland forests, the scarlet floweringgum of Western Australia, and the Waratah, of Blue Mountainsfame, are its [i.e. the wattle's] only rivals.»
1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 5, p. 9, col. 1:
«The memory of many residents runs back to the time when thewaratah and the Christmas-bush, the native rose and fuchsia,grew where thickly-peopled suburbs now exist. . . . Thewaratah recedes yearly.»
1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Sept. 2, p. 5, col. 6:
«The wattles and waratahs are creditable instances of thevalue of our Australian flowers for art purposes, and theefforts of the artists to win recognition for theiradaptability as subjects for the artist's brush are deservingof acknowledgment.»