196 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



amenable to translocation and subsequent naturalisation. We have 

 it as indigenous in Australia also. The export from New Zealand 

 in 1885 to China was 6,389 cwt., valued at 11,079 [Sir James 

 Hector]. 



Exomis axyrioides, Fenzl. 



South- Africa, A good saltbush there for pastures [McOwan]. 



Exomis albicans, Moquin. (Atriplex albicans, Alton.) 



South- Africa, Praised there as a pastoral saltbush. 



Fabiana imbricata, Ruiz and Pavon. 



Chili. This small shrub has become valuable as a remedy in 

 cystitis. Other species occur there or in Bolivia or in Brazil, and 

 they will likely be of similar utility. 



Fagropyrum cymosum, Meissner. 



The perennial Buck-wheat or rather Beech- wheat of the Indian 

 and Chinese highlands, ascending naturally to 11,000 feet [Sir 

 Joseph Hooker]. Can be used with other species for spinage and 

 grain ; also a blue dye may be obtained from its leaves. 



Fagropyrum esculentum, Moench.* 



Northern and Central Asia, extending eastward to Manchuria, 

 growing to an elevation of 12,000 feet in the Himalayas. The 

 ordinary buck-wheat, called Buch-Waizen in Germany, from the 

 resemblance (in miniature) of the seeds to Beech-nuts ; hence also 

 the generic name. This annual herb succeeds on the poorest land ; 

 clayey soil yields more foliage, but less grain. The crushed amyla- 

 ceous seeds can be converted into a palatable and wholesome food 

 by boiling or baking, and groats and cakes thus obtained may be 

 consumed even by diabetic patients without aggravation of their 

 malady. The seeds contain about 77 per cent, of amylaceous and 

 saccharine substance [Dr. A. E. Wright] ; other analyses gave 

 starch about 50 per cent., gluten about 10 per cent. Starch has 

 also recently been prepared from the seeds as an article of trade. 

 Fagopyrum can be raised with advantage as an agrarian plant for 

 the first crop on sandy but not too dry heath-land, newly broken 

 up, for green manure. It gives a good green fodder, serves as 

 admixture to hay, and is also important as a honey-plant. The 

 period required for the cyclus of its vegetation is extremely short ; 

 thus it can even be reared on alpine elevations. In Norway it grows 

 to lat. 67 56' [Schuebeler]. The produce of this grain in the 

 United States during 1879 was 13,140,000 bushels, valued at 

 1,636,000 ; in 1885 it was 12,626,000 bushels. Much used also in 

 distilleries. A large-grained variety is cultivated in Japan. 



