48 Forage Plants of Australia. 



ORDER, CHENOPODIACE^]. 



RHAGODIA PAKABOLICA, E. BE. 



" Old Man Saltbush." 



Flora Austr., Vol. V, p. 153. 



AN erect slirub, growing from 5 to 10 feet high, and covered all over with a 

 mealy whiteness. The leaves are opposite or alternate, on rather long stalks, 

 somewhat variable in outline, but mostly broadly ovate. The flowers are 

 arranged in distinct clusters along the spreading branches of a terminal 

 panicle, sometimes very dense and crowded, sometimes loose and slender. 

 At figure 1 is illustrated a portion of a fruiting branch, the fruits of which 

 are succulent when ripe, each one being scarcely J of an inch in diameter. 

 This shrub is found in the interior of Queensland, New South Wales, and 

 South Australia, and usually in or near moist places, but is nowhere very 

 plentiful. It is probably one of the best known of all saltbushes by stockmen, 

 and on account of its mealy-white appearance they have given it the common 

 name of " Old Man Saltbush." At one time this shrub was a prominent 

 feature in many places in the interior, but of late years it is gradually 

 becoming more scarce. Much of this has come about by overstocking, and from 

 no attempt having been made either in the way of cultivation or even con- 

 servation of this useful forage plant. It is much more readily eaten by 

 cattle than by sheep. This, however, may be accounted for by its tall 

 branches being out of the reach of the latter. It is said that rabbits eat the 

 bark of this shrub when forage is scarce, and also that grasshoppers are 

 particularly fond of its foliage. It will be seen, therefore, that there are 

 several agencies at work which will in a measure account for its scarcity in 

 places where it was at one time fairly plentiful. If this shrub is left unmo- 

 lested for a time it quickly recuperates and produces an abundance of seed, 

 which will, when ripe, germinate readily under ordinary conditions ; and 

 besides, it is readily increased by cuttings made of the half-ripened wood, 

 planted in the ordinary way during the early autumn or spring months. 

 There will be no difficulty, therefore, in collecting seeds and redisseminating 

 them in those districts where the plant may have become extinct, or 

 increasing the plants by cuttings where they may still be growing. 



