324 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Sporobolus Virginicus, R Brown. 



Jamaica. Will luxuriate even in sandy maritime places, and keep 

 perfectly green after three or four months' drought. Horses become 

 rapidly and astonishingly fat in feeding upon it (Jenman). S. 

 Indicus and S. purpuraceus and S. Jacquemonti are also highly 

 spoken of as pasture grasses in the West Indian Islands. 



Stenotaphrum Americanum, Schranck.* (S. glabrum, Trinius.) 



South- Asia, Africa, warmer countries of America ; not known from 

 any part of Europe or Australia. Here called the Buffalo-Grass. 

 It is perennial, creeping, and admirably adapted for binding sea- 

 sand and river banks, also for forming garden edges, and for estab- 

 lishing a grass sward on lawns much subjected to traffic ; it is, 

 besides, of some value as pasture. It consolidates rolling sands into 

 a firm pasture-turf. It was this grass which Mr. John C. Bell 

 reared with so much advantage for fodder on the bare rocks of the 

 Island of Ascension, and it was there where Australian Acacias 

 took the lead to establish wood vegetation and for securing perma- 

 nency of drinking-water. 



Sterculia Carthaginensis, Cavanilles. (S. Chicka, St. Hilaire.) 



South Brazil. This and some other South American species furnish 

 seeds of almond-like taste. 



Sterculia monosperma, Ventenat. (S. nobilis, R Brown.) 



China. A middle-sized spreading tree. The large seeds can be 

 used as chestnuts in a roasted state. 



Sterculia quadrifida, R Brown. 



Eastern and Northern Australia. This tree might be tried in rich 

 and humid forest regions. It is the " Calool" of the natives. The 

 black seeds are of a filbert taste, like those of some other /Sterculia'. 

 As many as eleven of the brilliant scarlet fruits may be in a cluster, 

 and each of them may contain up to ten or eleven seeds. 



Sterculia urens, Roxburgh. 



India, extending to the north-western provinces, to Assam and 

 Ceylon. This and also S. urceolata (Smith) from the Moluccas and 

 Sunda Islands produce edible seeds, and may prove hardy here. 



Stilbocarpa polaris, Decaisne and Planchon. 



Auckland's and Campbell's Islands, and seemingly also in the 

 southern extremity of New Zealand. A herbaceous plant with 

 long roots, which are saccharine and served some wrecked people 

 for a lengthened period as sustenance. The plant is recommended 

 here for further attention, as it may prove through culture a valuable 

 addition to the stock of culinary vegetables of cold countries. 



