FORAGE PLANTS. 97 
A strong-zrowing grass, which affords a large amount of feed 
to cattle in seasons of scarcity, and is much improved by cultiva- 
tion. It is from one to eight feet high, and is found in swamps. 
It is a rich but annual grass of ready, spontaneous dispersion, 
particularly along sandy river banks, also around stagnant water. 
It will succeed also on somewhat saline soil, particularly on 
brackish watercourses, also in moor land. It is regarded by 
R. Brown as indigenous in Eastern and Northern Australia, and 
Bentham, while retaining the species, observes that this common 
weed of most tropical and temperate countries has probably been 
introduced in some of the Australian localities. In an English 
work it has been described as “a strong, coarse grass, found in 
moist, arable land in Great Britain, but of no agricultural use.” 
(Parnell). But according to Bailey, speaking of its adaptability 
for Queensland, ‘‘this fine, succulent grass is well adapted for 
sowing on damp land, for cutting like sorghum for fodder. If cut 
early it will make a second growth. Horses are particularly fond 
of it.” 
All the colonies except Tasmania. 
105. Panicum decompositum, R.Br., (Syn. P. proliferum, F.v.M.; 
P. amabile, Balansa; P. /evinode, Lindl.) ; B.F1., vii., 489. 
“ Australian Millet,” “Umbrella Grass,” “ Tindil” of the aboriginals of 
the Cloncurry River, North Queensland. 
One of the most valuable of the Darling Downs (Queensland) 
grasses. Under cultivation it has yielded in one season over three 
tons of hay per acre. It is a semi-aquatic species, tall, coarse, 
and succulent, producing abundance of feed, and greatly relished 
by stock. It seeds in December and January. It is short-lived, 
but is one of the most spacious of Australian nutritious species. 
The aborigines convert the small millet-like grains into cakes. 
Alluding to this grass, Sir Thomas Mitchell (Zhree Ex pedr- 
tions) pp. 237 and 290, says :—“In the neighbourhood of our 
camp the grass had been pulled to a very great extent, and piled 
in hay-ricks, so that the aspect of the desert was softened into the 
agreeable semblance of a hay-field. The grass had evidently been 
thus laid up by the natives, but for what purpose we could not 
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