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OK THE NOETH-AUSTBALIAK EXPEDITION. 146 



kind of yellow wood, which attained some celebrity in New South 

 Wales. According to an examination of the fruit, it is yielded by 

 a second species of Ajsadirachta. The only indigenous Ery- 

 throxylon, a small tree not uncommon in East Australia, produces 

 in all probability a red dye similar to that of its congeners. 



With regard to the medical properties of the plants, observed 

 •during the expedition, I may allude to the tonic bitterness of 

 several Goodeniacece^ of Canscora diffusa (which is identical with 

 Orthostemon ereetus, B. Br.), and of a new genus of Sirmrube<e 

 {Picroxylon)y with a wood similar to that of Qvmda. The Euca- 

 hfptus kino might be procured in boimdless quantities. The bark 

 01 the Red Cedar-tree (Cedrela Australis) seems to offer a good 

 substitute for that of Cedrela Toona and C. fehrifuga. 



The occurrence of some virulent vegetable poison in North-west 

 Australia manifested itself by the loss of several of our horses on 

 three occasions, and I deplore that I failed to ascertain the plant 

 which caused this calamity. In its effects this poison is even 

 more active than that of Gastrolohium and Gompholobium, which 

 are so destructive to the herds of Western Australia, and its action 

 on the stomach of the animals inflammatory in a high degree. 

 J-hese losses happened on the rocky edges of the sandstone table- 

 J^d near rivulets lined with Pandanm spiralis; but I searched 

 itt vam in these localities for plants, the natural alliance of which 

 ^ould justify any suspicion. 



My previous remark on the preponderance of grasses, does not 

 merely allude to their diversity in species, but applies equally to 

 their gregarious distribution over a great part of the country. 

 Numerous species of Panic urn and Andropogon, several of Anthi- 

 ^tiria^ Poa^ SporohohiSy Ectrosia, Eriachne, SaccTiarum^ and Rott- 

 f>oellia^ a Paspalnm, a Dactyloctenium^ a kind of rice, and many 

 other grasses of equal value for pasture, cover either the basaltic 

 plains, the valleys, or the fertile undulations. An Ischmnwrn- ' 

 ^ed of vast abundance on the banks of the Victoria River ofiered 

 additional food for our horses. But all the extensive sandstone 

 elevations are devoid of nutritious foragfe, and the harsh or rigid 



t *onns of Triodia^ Aristida, and TnrapJiis supersede the tender 

 ^^'asses of the lower ground. 

 The rainy season, which we observed to last from November 

 January, renews with a wonderful rapidity the grasses and the 



till 



herbaceous vegetation at the hottest, season. To this circum- 



^ we have principally to ascribe the continuance of grass in a 

 '^^^tious state throughout a longer period of the year than in 



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^WX. PROC.-rBOTAITT. 



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