274 NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC BOTANY, 



handsome tree about 20-25 feet high and from 4 to 6 inches in 

 diameter. On the slopes of the Snowy Mountains it sometimes 

 forms dense jungles which are there called " Pepper Scrub." It 

 ascends to an altitude of more than 6,000 feet, but is then always 

 shrubby. 



Z>. dijyetala is a small gully-tree which bears a considerable 

 quantity of fruit of a plum colour up to nearly black when fully 

 ripe. They are in shape like a roly-poly, and I have measured 

 them up to 1^ inch full by f inch in diameter. They are succu- 

 lent, and may be eaten with impunity, tasting like a nearly insipid 

 apple, but the few small black seeds which they contain, which 

 are from pear- to kidney -shaped, are exceedingly pungent, tasting 

 like D. aromatica fruits if chewed. I have not heard of the 

 blacks eating them, but it is not possible they could have ignored 

 them. 



The present species is not so well-known as D. aromatica, nor 

 has any use been made of either bark, leaves, or fruit. The ripe 

 fruit, when bruised and steeped in hot water, makes a beautiful 

 dark red to purple liquid, a teaspoonful of which added to a glass 

 of water makes a pleasant refreshing drink. This suggests 

 whether the ripe fruit might not be used in colouring and 

 flavouring wines and other beverages, giving them a beautiful 

 red colour, and adding a spicy and aromatic ta.ste. 



The Cambewarra Mountain (Shoalhaven district) was until now 

 the most southern locality recorded for this species, but our 

 collector has found it in the deep wild gullies east of the Sugar 

 Loaf Mountain (Braidwood) growing quite luxuriantly, — usually a 

 straggling shrub or small tree up to 12 or 15 feet in height and 

 somewhat more than 2 inches in diameter. Here the plants in 

 some instances were almost bending with the weight of fruit, now 

 beautifully ripe and exceptionally large this wet season. The 

 bark of this species, as well as that of D. aromatica, does not 

 strip, but has to be sliced off with a knife. Where the long 

 straggling stems or branches touch the ground the young branch- 

 lets form roots, so that the branch can be cut away from the 

 parent as an independent plant. 



