Forage Plants of Australia. 39 



ORDER ASCLEPIADEJE. 



MARSDENIA LEICHHARDTIANA, 



4 'Dooba." 



Flora Austr., Vol. IV, p. 341. 



A CLIMBING plant with woody stems at the base, and long twining branches. 

 The young parts are glaucous or silvery white. The leaves are linear, rather 

 thick, and from \\ to 4 inches long. The flowers are contracted at the top, 

 and arranged in solitary dense umbels in the leaf axils. The fruit is illus- 

 trated at the right hand side of the engraving, and consists of a follicle, 

 which is thick, ovoid-oblong, and from H to 3 inches long. The seeds have 

 a long silky tuft of hairs at one end. This climber is found principally in 

 the interior of North Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, South 

 Australia, and West Australia, and in some situations it is moderately 

 plentiful. On sandy ground, and in scrubby country between the Lachlan 

 and Darling Rivers, in New South Wales, it grows very freely. Before the 

 blacks tasted the sweets of civilisation, this plant was of some considerable 

 economic use to them, and in some instances is so still. They dig up 

 the roots, roast and eat them, and they also roast the fruit. The seeds 

 contained therein they consider a delicate morsel, which goes down with 

 great relish. A very viscid milky fluid of a pleasant taste exudes from the 

 fruit when broken from the stem. It is also a capital forage plant, for both 

 cattle and sheep are fond of it, and eat it with avidity ; the latter being 

 particularly fond of the young shoots, and often leaving surrounding 

 vegetation to browse upon them. There is not much fear of this plant 

 becoming extinct for some time to come, for even under adverse circum- 

 stances it produces a great amount of seed, and when these are ripe they 

 germinate readily under ordinary conditions, and, besides, young stems often 

 grow from the thick roots, when the old ones are eaten off. There are about 

 n'f teen species of the genus Marsdenia found in Australia, and all of them 

 are twining plants. Some of them are ornamental, and worthy the attention 

 of horticulturists. For twining over arbors in a hot dry climate, hardly any 

 other plants are more suitable. Marsdenia viridiflora, a species that bears 

 green flowers in simple umbels, is called the native potato (on account of its 

 thick fleshy roots) in the counties of Camden and Cumberland, in New South 

 Wales. Many other species of the genus also have large fleshy tuberous 

 roots. For horticultural purposes the seeds of these plants should be sown 

 in September or October in pots or pans of finely prepared soil, and when 

 the plants are large enough to handle they should be transplanted to their 

 permanent quarters. 



