XViii INTRODUCTION. 



SALSOLACKOTJS OB CHENOPODTACEOUS PLANTS. 



These most valuable plants are from year to year becoming scarcer on 

 the central plains of this continent. Being so closely fed down they 

 get little chance to mature seed, which is their only natural means of 

 reproduction. When left unmolested for a time, however, they will 

 produce an abundance of seed, which germinates readily under ordinary 

 conditions. Many of them also are readily increased by cuttings, so 

 that it would require no great outlay to enter upon a proper system of 

 conservation or even cultivation. Moreover, once the plants are established, 

 they will continue to grow under the most adverse circumstances of 

 drought and great heat. In fact, very few other kinds of plants so useful for 

 fodder purposes could exist under such adverse circumstances as do most 

 kinds of the saltbush family. There is abundant proof that when sheep 

 are depastured in country where plenty of salinous plants are growing 

 among the natural grasses, fluke and other allied ailments are almost 

 unknown. It has been said that horses which are subject to swamp cancer 

 on the low coast lands, when turned into pasture where salinous plants are 

 plentiful, soon lose this disease. While on the subject of distoma disease 

 and other allied ailments, I may mention another genus of plants which 

 should not be overlooked in any system of conservation. It is that 

 of Zygophyllum, some species of which act as vermifuges. There are 

 very few plants arranged under the order Cheiiopodiaceae, which are 

 not available for fodder, though exception might be taken to the 

 following species. During protracted droughts balls of cotton-like 

 substance form on Kochia aphylla, E. Br., Enchylaena tomeiitosa B. Er., 

 and a few other plants of the order. It is generally supposed that this 

 adventitious grow r th is caused by some insect. The fulvous tomentum 

 on some species of Sclerolsena and the woolly covering of the fruits of some 

 species of Chenolea have been known to kill sheep when they have par- 

 taken too freely of this indigestible stuff, along with parts of the plants. 

 The dorsal spines on the fruit of all species of Anisacantha cause some 

 trouble to the salivary glands of sheep and other small herbivora, if they 

 partake too freely of the plants when the fruits are near maturity. 

 Anisacantha muricata, Moq., makes the troublesome "roley poleys" of our 

 central plains. The following is a synopsis of those species which have 

 come under my observation, and I can recommend them as being worthy of con- 

 servation: EhagodiaBillardieri, E. Br., ; E. Gaudichaudiana, Moq. ; E. hastata, 

 E. Br., ; E. mi tans, E. Br., and E. parabolica, E. Br. ; Cheno podium cari- 

 natum, E. Br. ; C. auricomum, Lindl. ; C. atripliciiium, F.v.M., and C. 

 triangulare, E. Br. ; Atriplex campanulata, Beiith. ; A. cinerea, Poir. ; A. 

 halimoides, Lindl. ; A. holocarpa, F.v.M. ; A. Muelleri, Benth. ; A. mum- 

 mularia, Lindl. ; A. rhagodioides, F.v.M. ; A. semibaccata, E. Br. ; A. lepto- 

 carpa, F.v.M. ; A. spongiosa, F.v.M. ; A. velutinella, F.v.M. ; A. vesicaria, 

 Hew., and A. stipitata, Benth. Many of these Atriplexes when cooked are 

 excellent table esculents : Kochia aphylla, E. Br. ; K. ciliata, F.v.M. ; K. 

 eriantha, F.v.M. ; K. lobiflora, F.v.M. ; K. pyramidata, Benth. ; K. sedi- 

 folia, F.v.M. ; and K. villosa, Lindl. A detailed description of all these 

 valuable salinous and other plants used for fodder in Australia, with illus- 

 trations, is now issued by the Department of Agriculture, and I hope, for 

 the welfare of the pastoral industry, that more interest will henceforth be 

 devoted, if not to their cultivation at least to the system of conservation. 



