600 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Oct., 191S. 



INDIGENOUS FIBROUS PLANTS OF VICTORIA. 



By J. \V . Aiidas, F.L.S , F.K.M .S.j Assistant, National 

 Herharinin, Melhoume. 



The continuance of the war has aroused a wide-spread interest in 

 the uses and commercial value of many of the natural products of 

 Australia, and the recently-formed Commonwealth Bureau of Science 

 and Industry intends to experiment with plants of various kinds 

 in order to ascertain if they have any economic value. As the shortage 

 of shipping gradually be,comesj more acute we shall be compelled to seek 

 locally for many articles which hitherto have come from overseas, or at 

 any rate, to look for substitutes. Endeavour should therefore be made 

 by everybody interested to ascertain by investigation What commercial 

 value our trees and plants possess before permitting further areas of 

 them to be wantonly destroyed. Extensive tracts of country have been 

 cleared which formerly bore the richest and most varied vegetation. 

 The brush forests so general along our coasts are fast disappearing with 

 the advance of settlement. It is advisable therefore to bring under 

 notice a few plants which would yield strong and durable fibres suitable 

 for a variety of purposes. 



The economic value of most of the diversified vegetation of the Com- 

 monwealth is little known, and it is only from the timbers that any 

 financial benefit worth speaking of has been derived. There are many 

 plants in the Victorian flora admirably adapted for the manufacture of 

 fibres. Experiments were carried out from time to time by the late 

 Baron von Mueller, Government Botanist, and the late W. R. Guil- 

 foyle. Director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, the results of which 

 show the economic uses to which some of our plants could be put. The 

 following Genera can be specially recommended, viz., Acacia, Euca- 

 lyptus, Melaleuca, Plagianthus, Pimelea, Rulingia, Commersonia, 

 Casuarina, Brachychiton, Bedfordia, Lavatera, Linum, Xanthorrhoea, 

 Dianella, Juncus, Lomandra, Typha, Carex, Gahnia, Cyperus, 

 Heleocharis, Schoenus, Scirpus Livistona, Liepidosi>erma, and other 

 sedges, besides Stipa, Dichelachne, Poa, Arundo, Tetrarrhena, Imperata, 

 and other grasses. 



Fibres can be made from: — 



1. Bark of Acacia dectirrtns, Willd. " Early Black Wattle." 



2. Bark of Acacia moUissima, Willd. " Late Black Wattle." 



3. Bark of Acacia peniiinervis, Sieb. " Hickory Wattle." 



3a. Leaves of Amperea spartioides, Brongn. " Broom Spurge." 



4. Leaves of Arundo Phragmites, L. " Common Reel." 



5. Leaves of Bedfordia salicina, D.C. "Blanket Wood." 



6. Bark of Brachychiton populneus, R.Br. " Kurrajong." 



7. Stems of Carex paniculata, L. " Panicle Sedge." 



7a. Stems of Carex pseudo-cyperus, L. " Galingale Sedge." 



8. Stems of Carex tereticaulis, F. v. M. "Round Sedge." 



9. Branchlets of Casuarina quadrivalvis , Labill. " Drooping 



Sheoke." 



10. Branchlets of Casuarina suberosa, Otto & Dietrich. " Black 



Buloke." 



11. Branches of Commersonia Fraseri, J. Gay. " Black Fellows' 



Hemp." 



