12 Forage Plants of Australia. 



make a beautiful umbrageous head, and it might be recommended for avenue 

 planting, or grouping with other trees, for it makes a grand feature in the 

 landscape. Its beautiful green foliage at midsummer is easily recognised 

 among other vegetation. There are about twelve species of the genus 

 Sterculia found on this continent. S. acerifolia is the well-known u flame 

 tree" of New South Wales. S. quadrifida is a Queensland species, and 

 when seen in fruit it is a most beautiful object. S. rupestris is a very 

 singular tree, its trunk somewhat resembling a bottle ; from this singularity 

 it has obtained the name of " bottle tree." The timber of none of these 

 species is of much use in a commercial sense, being mostly of a light spongy 

 nature, though the inner bark of the trees yields good fibre. All of them 

 produce an abundance of seed, which might be turned to some commercial 

 use. If they were analysed, it is probable that some of them would yield a 

 substance closely allied to the cocoa of commerce, for they belong to the 

 same natural order, Sterculia ceas, as does the famous cocoa-bearing tree, and 

 also the more recently-described kola, or cola, nut bearing tree of Africa. The 

 kurrajong is a tree that is most easily raised from seed, if sown directly it 

 is ripe, and as the seedlings transplant well, 110 difficulty will be experienced 

 in planting this tree in any number in the arid interior. 



