Forage Plants of Australia. 53 



ORDEE CHENOPODIACE.E. 



CHENOPODIUM MICEOPHYLLUM, F. v. M. 

 " Small-leaved Goosefoot." 



Flora Austr., Vol. V, p. 161. 



A MUCH-BRANCHED diffuse perennial plant, covered more OP less all over with 

 a mealy whiteness. The leaves are very variable on different plants, and 

 range from ovate to broadly lanceolate. The flowers are very small and few 

 together, in rather loose clusters in the upper axils, as shown in the engraving. 

 At Figure I is illustrated an enlarged drawing of the fruit partly enclosed 

 in the five-lobed perianth. This plant is peculiar to the south-west parts of 

 the country, being found near Goulburn and on different runs toward the 

 Victorian boundary, in New South Wales, Bacchus Marsh, and the Wimmera 

 District in Victoria, though not in great quantities. It is an excellent fodder- 

 plant for sheep, which eat it with avidity, and, bein<r of a slightly salinous 

 nature, it is particularly relished by all small herbivora. It is probably on 

 this account that the plant is not now plentiful as it was at one time on 

 these plains, where sheep and cattle have so long been depastured. On 

 neglected lands, however, and in places rarely frequented by stock, it makes 

 great growth, and most of it during the hottest part of the year, and on this 

 account it is well worthy of conservation, and even cultivation. Many of 

 its congeners are excellent vegetables, and they grow even in adverse circum- 

 stances, and are succulent w r hen many other esculents are withered through 

 drought. "When not too closely fed down, the plant seeds in abundance, 

 and the seeds germinate readily under ordinary conditions. They should be 

 sown in the early autumn after rainfall, or failing this, in September or 

 October. 



