10 Aug., 1917.] 



Australian Fodd'r Shrub. 



499 



AUSTRALIAN FODDER SHRUB. 



THE SALT BUSH. 



(^By J. W. Audas, F.L.S., Assistant, National Herbarium, Melbourne.) 

 The Victorian fanner, rarely troubled by successions of bad seasons 

 or droughts, such as distress his compatriots in the Northern States, 

 generally has abundance of grasses to feed his stock, and does not, there- 

 lore, turn his attention to the many native fodder plants and shrubs 

 in which this continent is so rich. He knows them not by sight, and 

 their nanu^s are by him yet unlearned. This fact is to be regretted, for 

 let the su[)])ly of grasses be ever so abundant, the shrubs are still useful, 

 for they supply medicinal wants of .stock, and. being green and tender 

 during the hot .summer months, when grass is dry, they form a healthful 

 change of diet. 



These fodder plants (non-grasses) are very numerous. To mention 

 a few^there are the " Lightwood," Acacia implexa; "Willow Acacia," 

 A. salicina; Sugar Gum, Eucalyptus, (corynocalyx) cladocaly.r : 

 " White Wood," JI eterodendron oleaefoUum : " Wilga," Gcijera parvi- 

 flora; " Kurrajong," Brachychiton populneus; "Weeping Pittosponim," 

 Pittosporum phillyrwoides ; Sweet Bursaria, Bursaria spinosa; Worm- 

 wood Cassia, Cassia artemisioides ; De^^ert Cassia, C. eramophila; Rock 

 Cassia, C. desolata: Berrigan, Errmnphila hinqifolia; Spotted Emu 

 Bu.sh, Eremophila maculata; Twin-leaved Emu Bush, E. oppositifolia ; 

 " Turkey Bush," Myoporum Deserti ; " Quandong," Fii~sanus acuminatus ; 

 Black Sheoke, Casuarina suberosa ; and Drooping Sheoke, C. quadri- 

 valvis, but probably the best of all are the Saltbushes. Of the latter 

 Australia has 137 species, arranged under fifteen genera, and Victoria 

 claims sixty-six of these species native to her own soil. 



The accompanying table shows the distribution of indigenous genera 

 and their relative strength in species over the various States of the 

 Commonwealth. 



All varieties of saltbush are very tenacious of existence, and some 

 positively defy the elements of drought, the drier the season the more 



