SALT-BUSHES 63 



Oil .. .. .. 2.14 



Carbohydrates . . . . 32.63 



Albuminoides . . . . 19.94 



Woody Fibre . . . . 8.04 



Ash, CO 2 .. .. .. 37.25 



100.00 



Nitrogen .. .. .. 3.19 



Woody parts of plant . . 37 per cent. 



Edible parts of plant . . 63 per cent. 



The Berry-Bearing Salt-Bushes are endemic in Australia 

 and consist of twelve species of Rhagodia. They are found in 

 all the States of the Commonwealth from the Coast to the far 

 interior. Most of them are excellent forage plants, cattle and 

 sheep being particularly fond of them. The tallest, R. 

 parabolica, attains sometimes a height of fifteen feet, but 

 generally it is not so tall. It is sometimes called Old Man Salt- 

 Bush, a name by which another tall-growing species, pre- 

 viously referred to is now more generally known, and occurs 

 in the interior, where it occasionally forms a prominent 

 feature on some of the plains, but it is not nearly as plentiful 

 as formerly. This is one of the Salt-Bushes of which grass- 

 hoppers are so fond that they sometimes denude it of its foliage, 

 leaving only the bare stems, which, however, when left un- 

 disturbed, soon put forth new leaves. An allied shrubby 

 species (R. hastata) grows from two to three feet high in a 

 natural state, but attains a height of five or six feet under 

 cultivation. In the interior, sheep, when eating the succulent 

 stems and leaves of this plant, often trim it as neatly as if it 

 had been clipped into shape by hand shears. Two of the 

 dwarf est species of this genus are the Flax -Leaved Salt-Bush 



