28 MEDICINAL PLAINTS OF QUEENSLAlfD, 



Couch, grass, Cynodon dactyl on, Pers., a cooling drink is made in 

 India, and a decoction of Eleusine indica, Greot., is also employed 

 in Demerara in the convulsions of infants. 



The notice of medicinal qualities in our Cryptogamic plants ^ill 

 be brief, yet should not be altogether passed over, for we find a 

 few plants in this class which do possess properties of value, thus 

 Lycopodium phlegmaria, Linn., one of our pretty epiphytal club- 

 mosses is reputed an aphrodisiac, and Selminthostachys zeylanica, 

 Hook, a tropical swamp fern belonging to the Adder's tongue 

 tribe of ferns, is said to be regarded in the Moluccas as a slight 

 aperient and it is also used as a pot-herb. The fern has a short 

 thick, creeping root-stock from which only a single frond usually 

 rises, which is divided into three parts, each part being generally 

 much cut. The whole is of a succulent nature. It is also said 

 that the fronds of Poly podium phymatodes, Linn , are used in the 

 South Sea Islands for scenting the oil of the cocoa-nut. This 

 fine fern is of common occurrence on the banks of our northern 

 rivers, and seems to contain more fragrant oil than any other of 

 our Queensland ferns. 



Little is as yet known of our mosses, but the general character 

 of the order Miisci is to possess a slight astringency and diuretic 

 property, I may mention that the genus most useful to the 

 horticulturist — Sphagnum, I saw a few years back in abundance in 

 a swamp near Maroochie. 



Of our Lichens also little is known about their properties. Sticta 

 pulmonacea, abundant on the stems of the trees at Maroochie, is 

 used in Siberia for giving a bitter to beer, and in England is 

 employed under the name of Lungs of the Oak as a noui'ishing 

 diet for weak persons. 



Farmclia perlata, and F. perforata, two very common Australian 

 lichens have been used in the form of a poultice in dropsical 

 affections, but there is much doubt about their value, it being 

 thought that the application of continuous warmth and moistui^e 

 by any other means would have been equally efficacious. 



