290 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Livistona Chinensis, R. Brown. 



South-China and Japan. A very decorative Fan-palm, and one of 

 the hardiest of the whole order. In its native country, the hairy 

 stem-covering of this palm is used for fixing lime-plaster to buildings 

 [Christie]. 



Livistona Leichhardtii, F. v. Mueller. 



North- Australia. Under this name might be combined L. iuermis 

 and L. humilis (R. Brown), neither name applying well to this finally 

 tall palm with thorny leaf-stalks. The author of this work as well 

 as Dr. Leichhardt saw it far inland in dry open not mountainous 

 regions also ; nevertheless it may need a moister clime than the 

 following species. 



Livistona Mariae, F. v. Mueller. 



Central Australia, barely within the tropics. This noble Fan- 

 palm attains 70 feet in height, according to Professor Tate, and is 

 likely to prove more hardy than many others. Young foliage copper- 

 coloured. An allied species with larger fruits, L. Alfredi (F. v. M.) 

 inhabits exclusively tropical West Australia. 



Lolium perenne, Linne\* 



Europe, North- Africa, Western Asia. The perennial Rye-grass, 

 one of the best known of all utilitarian grasses. In Norway it grows 

 to lat. 65 28' [Schuebeler], and extends naturally to Shetland [Sir 

 J. Hooker]. One of the most important of all pasture-grasses, also 

 almost universally chosen for lawn-culture. It produces an abundance 

 of seeds, which are readily collected and easily vegetate. It comes 

 early to perfection, and shoots quickly again after it has been cut. 

 Nevertheless the productive and nutritive powers are considerably 

 less than those of Dactylis glomerata, Alopecurus pratensis and 

 Festuca elatior, but it pushes forward earlier than the last-mentioned 

 grass, while the ripening of seeds is less defective than in Alopecurus. 

 The chemical analysis, made very early in spring, gave the following 

 results : Albumen, 3'36 ; gluten, 4*88 ; starch, 0-51 ; gum, 1*80; 

 sugar, 1*80 per cent. [F. v. Mueller and L. Rummel]. At the 

 London Sewerage-Depot, 60 tons of rye-grass were obtained from 

 one acre [Mclvor]. Rye-grass, though naturally living but a few 

 years, maintains its ground vrell, by the ease with which it disseminates 

 itself spontaneously. Several sorts, which can scarcely be called 

 varieties, are under cultivation, 22 kinds being distinguished in Mor- 

 ton's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture. Rye-grass stands the dry heat 

 of Australian summers fairly well. It is likely to spread gradually 

 over the whole of the Australian continent, and to play an important 

 part in pasture, except the hottest desert-tracts. Sheep should not 

 be continually kept on rye-grass pasture, as they may become 

 subject to fits similar to those produced by L. temulentum, possibly 

 due to the grass getting ergotised or otherwise diseased, as many 



