64 AUSTRALIAN GRASSES AND PASTURE PLANTS 



(R. linijolia), and the Nodding Salt-Bush (R. nutans), and they 

 occur both in the coast areas and inland. Sheep are parti- 

 cularly fond of and thrive on their slender herbaceous stems 

 and leaves. Although the above are only a fair percentage 

 of the indigenous Salt-Bushes, they are amongst the best and 

 most favourably known to stockowners. From the brief 

 descriptions an excellent idea can be formed of their economic 

 importance and of their great value to the pastoral industry 

 of Australia. 



There are very few members of the Salt-Bush family 

 that are not suitable for forage purposes, though exception may 

 be taken to those species whose stems, leaves and fruit are 

 enveloped in a cottony or woolly substance, for sheep have 

 died after eating too freely of this indigestible stuff together 

 with other parts of the plants. The dorsal spines on the fruits 

 of all species of the genus Anisacantha occasionally cause some 

 trouble to the salivary glands of sheep and other small herbi- 

 vora if they eat too much of the plants when the fruits are 

 near maturity. Stock, however, eat most of these Salt- Bushes 

 without any serious consequences, when the stems and leaves 

 are young and tender. Anisacantha muricata, when dry, makes 

 the troublesome ' ' roley poleys ' ' which the wind occasionally 

 blows over some of the inland plains to the consternation of 

 horses and cattle. Stockmen call the ripe fruits of the various 

 species of Anisacantha "bindyhies" and sometimes "Bogan 

 fleas ' ' because they cause irritation of the skin when camping 

 in country where the plants that produce them grow. 



