420 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Portulaca oleracea, Linne. 



Warmer regions of the globe, certainly indigenous in the easitern 

 hemisphere, as it is already recorded by Theophrastos and Dioscorides. 

 The sowing of this plant on pastures would raise a vegetation fit to 

 impede grass-fires. A bright-red flowering variety was discovered in 

 Central Australia by the writer. Even P. grandiflora, when natural- 

 ised, would not only be an ornament but might on sheep-runs prove 

 an additional provender, particularly in desert-tracts. 



Portulacaria Afra, Jaquin.* 



South- Africa. A shrub, rising to 12 feet, called " Spekboom." 

 Affords locally the principal food for elephants ; excellent also for 

 sheep-pasture, according to Professor MacOwan ; hence this succu- 

 lent shrub may deserve naturalisation on stony ridges and in sandy 

 desert-land, not readily otherwise utilised. Would likely prove 

 acceptable to camels also. Mr. T. R. Sim states that all kinds of 

 pasture-animals eat it readily and when grass is scarce nearly live on 

 it. Grows on hot rocky slopes. Easily struck from cuttings and 

 even solitary leaves. Likes particularly doleritic soil. Displays an 

 extraordinary recouperative power, when broken by browsing animals 

 or when injured from other causes. The trunk will attain one foot 

 in diameter [MacOwan]. Cultivated by the author already in Vic- 

 toria 40 years ago. 



Potamophila parviflora, R. Brown. 



East Australia. A tall aquatic grass, forming bunches. 



Pouzolzia tuberosa, Wight. 



India. The turnip-shaped root of this herb is edible. The plant 

 may prove hardy in extra-tropic frostless regions, and its root may 

 improve in culture. 



Prangos pabularia, Lindley. 



Plateaux of Afghanistan, Mongolia and Thibet. A perennial 

 fodder-herb, much relished by sheep, eligible for cold and arid 

 localities, and deserving naturalisation on alpine pasture-grounds. 

 Other perennial species exist near the Mediterranean Sea, on the 

 Atlas, the Caucasus and the Indian highlands. P. pabularia is 

 regarded by some as the Silphium of Arrianus. 



Prestoa pubigera, J. Hooker. (Hyospathe pubigera, Grisebach. ) 



Trinidad. At an elevation of about 3,000 feet [Krueger]. The 

 stem of this plant attains only about 12 feet in height. Valuable 

 among the dwarf palms, now so much sought for table and window- 

 decoration. 



