160 MEMORANDA, 
Haviiig T>een liouourcd by tlie Society of Apothecaries with the superinten- 
dence of the renovation of their Chelsea garden (of wide-world celebrity), I 
have erected a house, fifty feet long by about seventeen or eighteen feet in width, 
for the reception of a vast number of most intei*esting plants (whose name is 
legion) that merely require simple protection from disturbed and smoky atmo- 
spheres. This large case has now stood the test of two winters with complete 
success. If you wish for any further particulars T shall be most happy to fur- 
nish them. Yours, etc., 
The Ferns, Cla^ham, April 13, 1865. N. B. Ward. 
MEMORANDA. 
FiBBOiTs Plants op Ticxoeia. — The Ci^pems vaginatus, a Sedge of ex- 
treme abundance in some of the humid depressions of the colony of Yictoria, 
produces a remarkably tenacious fibre, wliich by the aboriginal population was 
once largely employed for cordage and for making their fish-nets. This plant 
is certainly deservhig introduction into other countries. The Australian Flax 
{Limim marglnaU) seems to have no claims* to be introduced elsewhere in pre- 
fereivce to that species which has been cultivated for ages, unless for its peren- 
nial duration. Two fibrous plants introduced here appear to hold out the 
greatest prospect for lucrative introduction into several other regions of tlje 
globe, viz. the New Zealand Flax, Phormhcm ienax^ which could be cultivated 
without any protection in the southern parts of Britain, and which may be 
grown in inundated places not readily available for other cultivation 5 and, 
secondly, the Ehea, Baehmeria nivea, from which the Ciiinese grass-cloth is 
made. The latter plant h-s proved quite hardy and luxuriant in Victoria, 
Both are mo^^t easily grown and multiplied, and ought to be naturalized in all 
tropical and temperate latitudes. The fibres of Sida pulckella, Srachj/eJdton 
populneum, Fhuelea axiflora, several Stipa-grasses, although not without value 
to *us here on tlie spot, are apparently not of sufficient importance to entitle 
their respective plants to an introduction mto other countries.— Pape;*^ of 
Victorian Acclimatization Society. 
Medicinal Plants of Victobta.— As far as known, the only plant re- 
stricted to these parts of Australia, and not merely used as a substitute for 
other fcpecies in the Materia Medica, is the Sassafras-tree of Yictoria and Tas- 
mania {Atherosper.na moscJiatum), Its bark is a powerful tonic, of which the 
efficiency seems mainly to rest in a peculiar alkaloid; it yields also a volatile 
oil, of which the especial therapeutic properties have to a great extent as yet 
to be ascertained. The tree can. however, only be naturalized in deep, springy, 
forest ravines, of countries with a climate analogous to that of Tasmania and 
of the southern parts of Yictoria. It is, however, not to be overlooked that 
several AcacicE, especially A. pycnantha and A, moUisslma yield a copious 
supply of gmn similar to that of gum arabic ; and as both trees are of extremely 
easy growth, they might even on that ground deserve the attention of culti- 
