60 AUSTRALIAN NATIVE PLANTS. 
them may contain up to ten or eleven seeds. (Mueller.) The 
mucilaginous substance of the unripe fruit is also edible. 
(Thozet.) 
Northern New South Wales, Queensland, and Northern 
Australia. 
190. §terculia rupestris, Benth., (Syn. Delabechea rupestris, 
Lindl.; Brachychiton Delabechit, F.v.M.), N.O., Sterculi- 
acez, B.FI., i., 230. Noted as Brachychiton Delabechitz, in 
Muell. Cens., p. 15. 
A ‘Kurrajong.” The “ Bottle-tree”’ of N.E. Australia, and also 
called ‘‘Gouty-stem,” on account of the extraordinary shape of the trunk. 
It is the ‘‘ Binkey ” of the aboriginals. 
The stem abounds in a mucilaginous substance resembling 
pure tragacanth, which is wholesome and nutritious, and is said 
to be used as an article of food by the aborigines in cases of 
extreme need. A similar clear jelly is obtainable by pouring 
boiling water on chips of the wood. 
“Tt is said that the soft juicy tissue of the stem can be eaten, 
and that many a wanderer in the bush has staved off hunger by 
its means. The young shoots and roots of young trees are 
agreeable and refreshing. ‘The nuts also are eaten.’ (Thozet, 
also Tenison-Woods, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. W., vol. vii-, p. 573- 
Thozet speaks of the natives cutting holes in the soft trunk, 
where the water lodges, and rots the trunk to its centre. These 
trunks are so many artificial reservoirs of water. When a tree 
has been cut its resources are not exhausted. The tired hunter, 
when he sees a tree that has been tapped, cuts a hole somewhat 
lower than the old cuts, and obtains an abundant supply of the 
sweet mucilaginous juice afforded by the tree. 
Queensland. 
191. Sterculia trichosiphon, Benth., (Syn. Trichosiphon australe, 
Schott; Brachychiton platanoides, R.Br.), N.O., Sterculiacez, 
B.Fl., i., 229. Brachychiton platanoides in Muell. Cens., 
p- 15. 2 
‘““ Ketey” of the aborigines. 
