212 



. EXPLANATION OF PLATE 170. 



A. Flowering twig. 



B. The flower-head with 4 bracts the 2 outer ones (<za) are glabrous, 



or nearly so, the 2 inner ones (&&) are villous. 

 c. Male flower. 



D. Male flower opened out, showing (a) Calyx (6 perianth-segments, 



(&) 6 stamens of the outer series, (c) 3 stamens of the inner 

 series, each with a gland on each side near the base. 



E. Rudimentary pistil. 



F. Female flower opened out, showing (a) Calyx (G perianth-seg- 



ments, (&) 6 staminodia of the outer series, (c) 3 staminodia of 

 the inner series, with glands. 



G. Pistil. 



H. Portion of fruiting twig showing the persistent calyx. 



Castanospermiim australe, A. Curm. 



THE BLACK BEAK. 

 e 



Botanical Name. Castanospermum, from the Latin castanea (a chestnut), 

 and spermum (a seed). The tree is confined to Australia, and in non- 

 Australian descriptions of it the name is usually explained on the groundi 

 that " the seeds are roasted like chestnuts." This matter is alluded to later 

 on. Australe, Latin Southern, and hence Australian. 



Vernacular Names. Because of the seeds, which are very large beans, 

 this tree goes under the name of Bean Tree; and because of the dark 

 colour of the wood, and partly by way of distinction from the Red Bean 

 (Dysoxylon Muelleri), it is usually known by timber merchants as Black 

 Bean. Moreton Bay Chestnut is an old name for the tree, because it was 

 first found in the Moreton Bay district (Queensland). 



Flowers. The flowers are borne on the last year's wood, bear a general 

 resemblance to pea-flowers, though more solid and fleshy, and in colour vary 

 from yellow, through all stages of orange, to coral red. They are very 

 handsome, though not available for cut flowers. There are two forms, as has 

 already been pointed out. 



Fruits. Mr. C. Fraser, Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 

 " being directed to establish a public garden in Brisbane Town," carried out 

 this task in 1828, and was accompanied by Allan Cunningham. They 

 discovered this tree, and Fraser says : 



" By the natives the fruit is eaten on all occasions ; it has, when roasted, the 

 flavour of a Spanish chestnut, and I have been assured by Europeans who 

 have subsisted on it exclusively for two days, that no other unpleasant effect 

 was the result than a slight pain in the bowels, and that only when it was 

 eaten raw." 



Later on, Mr. C. Moore stated : 



" The beans are used as food by the aborigines, who prepare them by first 

 steeping them in water from eight to ten days ; they are then taken out, dried 

 in the sun, roasted upon hot stones, pounded into a coarse meal, in which state 

 they may be kept for an indefinite period. When required for use, the meal is 

 simply mixed with water, made into a thin cake, and baked in the usual 

 manner. In taste, cakes prepared in this way resemble a coarse ship biscuit.'' 



Dr. T. L. Bancroft, of Brisbane, has examined the beans, and is very 

 emphatic in regard to their deleterious properties as far as man is concerned. 

 He states that rf a small piece of the bean be eaten it causes severe 



