62 AUSTRALIAN GRASSES AND PASTURE PLANTS 



Those Salt-Bushes popularly known as "Cotton Bush" and 

 ' ' Grey Bush ' ' belong to the genus Kochia, of which there are 

 fifteen known species indigenous to Australia. They are 

 of shrubby habit and widely distributed over the interior of 

 the continent. All of them withstand a phenomenal amount 

 of dry weather, and their growth does not seem to be checked 

 to any serious extent by the hot winds that periodically blow 

 over the inland plains. One of the best and most favourably 

 known to stockowners is the Cotton Bush (Kochia aphylla) 

 so-called from the woolly-like galls which form on the plant 

 during periods of prolonged dry weather, and which are 

 generally supposed to be caused by some insect. This plant, 

 which grows from two to three feet high, occupies large tracts 

 of country in the interior, and its presence is nearly always 

 an indication of good grazing land. Stock of all kinds are 

 remarkably fond of this Salt-Bush, on which they thrive and 

 fatten. In dry seasons on some stations quantities of it are 

 cut and chaffed before being fed to stock. The chaffed 

 material, after being cut for a few days, has a perfume like 

 new mown hay. Sometimes Cotton Bush is chaffed with 

 "Mulga" (Acacia aneura) and "Belar" (Casuarina glauca), 

 and horses and bullocks are said not only to work well on this 

 feed, but to fatten on it. The Grey Bush (K. pyramidata) is 

 a many-branched shrub, growing three feet high or more. The 

 whole plant is covered with dense, soft hairs of a greyish colour, 

 hence stockmen call it "Grey Bush." It occurs over an 

 immense area in the interior, and is quite a feature on some of 

 the plains. This Salt-Bush generally grows on good land, and 

 it is probably on that account that it thrives during prolonged 

 dry weather. Sheep are particularly fond of this plant, and 

 the following analysis shows that it possesses good feeding 

 value. Mr. W. A. Dixon gives the following analysis of the 

 ' ' Grey Bush ' ' : 



