BY THE REV. DR. WOOLLS, D.D., F.L.8. 841 



food after a certain preparation, whilst the roots of Heleocharis, 

 Typha, and Scirpus have been valued by the Blacks for their 

 nutritious properties. Zostera was much employed for the stuff- 

 ing of beds in the early days of the colony, and Alisma plantago 

 has a colonial as well as a European reputation for its edible 

 tubers. In Russia, this plant is regarded as efficacious for canine 

 madness, and, in America, it is renowned as a remedy against 

 the bite of the rattle-snake, but its virtues have been much 

 overrated. 



Amongst all the plants of this class, however, the grasses are 

 by far the most important, as they afford the most valuable 

 fodder for sheep and cattle, and are the most generally diffused. 

 Paspalum distichum, though in the early days of the colony 

 apparently a coast grass, has found its way up many of our rivers 

 and established itself on alluvial flats. It is a good pasture grass 

 but somewhat troublesome to agriculturists when it gets amongst 

 the corn. The large genus Panicum, of which 21 species are 

 indigenous in New South Wales, is placed by some writers as 

 amongst those grasses which cause the fat of animals to be soft ; 

 but P. decomposition and some of the allied species are highly 

 useful in many parts of the interior. This grass, though grow- 

 ing on poor soils, is one of the most nutritious of our grasses 

 and the grains of it are made into cakes by the aboriginal natives. 

 P. crus-galli and P. olseptum are sometimes termed "water- 

 grasses," because they nourish most on the borders of lagoons 

 or swamps. They are much eaten by cattle, but are not esteemed 

 for fattening qualities. Baron Mueller reports very favourably 

 of the genus Andropogon, especially of A. erianthoides, A. refractus 

 and A. Halappensis. The last (which is common to Europe, Asia, 

 and Africa), he says, "is a rich perennial grass. It yields a 

 large hay crop, as it may be cut half a dozen times in a season, 

 should the land be rich." Kangaroo grass ( Anthistiria ciliata 

 and A. avenaceaj is one of the most productive of native grasses. 

 An intelligent writer on Australian Grasses states " that with a 



