46 AUSTRALIAN GRASSES AND PASTURE PLANTS 



Wild Sorghum (Sorghum plumosum) grows over large 

 tracts of country in the eastern portion of the continent, in- 

 cluding the tablelands, but not very far into the interior. In 

 the warmer parts it attains a height of from four to five feet 

 or more, but in the colder districts it rarely grows so tall. 

 In the former it grows more or less all the year round, and 

 during an ordinary season it yields a great bulk of valuable 

 leafy herbage, which the larger herbivora eat with avidity, 

 and on which they thrive. Horses are very fond of the ripe 

 seeds of this grass and skilfully strip them off the stems be- 

 tween their teeth. This species grows too vigorously in the 

 warmer parts to be classed as sheep feed, although in the colder 

 districts, where it is essentially a summer grass and does not 

 grow so strong, sheep eat it readily enough and thrive on it. 

 When allowed to grow undisturbed for a time the Wild 

 Sorghum freely produces seed which ripens during the summer 

 and autumn. After the spring rains the seeds germinate 

 readily, so that there would be no risk in bringing this fine grass 

 under systematic cultivation. Owing to its bulky growth it 

 might be profitable to grow for ensilage. There are four other 

 species of Sorghum indigenous to Australia, and they are 

 widely distributed over the warmer parts of the continent. 

 All of them grow tall and yield a great bulk of leafy herbage 

 which is good feed for the larger herbivora. The grasses which 

 have been briefly described are only a small percentage of the 

 valuable ones indigenous to Australia, but they are amongst 

 the most widely distributed and favourably known to ex- 

 perienced pastoralists, and will suffice to illustrate the great 

 economic value of an important part of the pasture herbage 

 of this large southern continent. 



