Forage Plants of Australia. 31 



OKDER LEGUMI]S T OS.. 



ACACIA HOMALOPHYLLA, A. CTJNN. 



" Curley Tarren " or " Gidgee." 



Flora Austr., Vol. II, p. 383. 



A SMALL but graceful tree with glabrous or hoary foliage. The phyllodia 

 are lanceolate-falcate, or linear, though sometimes obtuse with a small point, 

 and from 1 to 3 inches in length. Elowers and seed-pods as shown in the 

 engraving. When this tree is in flower it has a most unpleasant perfume, 

 which is often quite sickening, both to man and beast. The tree is moderately 

 plentiful on the arid plains of the interior of New South "Wales, and the 

 Murray River flats in Victoria. Its drought-enduring qualities are pheno- 

 menal, and it does not seem to be affected by the hot winds of summer nor 

 the cold of winter in the slightest degree. It grows in the most arid and 

 bleak localities, and when grass and other herbage has been scarce it has 

 afforded an unfailing supply of good forage of which stock of all kinds are 

 fond. This tree is well worthy of conservation and even cultivation ; and, 

 unless something of the kind is done, it must in a few years be nearly 

 exterminated, if it is cut down in such quantities for stock as has been the 

 case during some years past. Apart from its value as a forage plant, it 

 yields a valuable timber, which is of a dark-brown colour, fragrant, and 

 useful for turner's work. The wood is also used by the aborigines for 

 making spears and other implements. "When left unmolested for a time it 

 bears seed in abundance, though they are very hard, and will require to be 

 steeped for a few days, or carefully torrefied, before sowing, or germination 

 will be considerably delayed. They should be sown in the early autumn 

 months, and in places where it is intended that the trees are to grow r , for the 

 seedlings are very impatient of being transplanted, and in fact scarcely ever 

 survive the operation. 



