Forage Plants of Australia. 61 



ORDER CHENOPODIACE.E. 



ATEIPLEX ANGULATA, BENTH. 

 " Angular-fruited Salt-Bush." 



Flora Ausfr., Vol. F, p. 174. 



A DWARF shrubby plant with spreading branches of about 2 feet, and more 

 or less covered with a mealy whiteness. The leaves are arranged on rather 

 long stalks, and are somewhat variable in shape, and also in size. The flowers 

 are mono?cious that is, the stamens and pistils are borne in separate flowers 

 on the same plant ; the male clusters are arranged in the upper leaf axils, and 

 the females in the lower ones. At figure 1 is illustrated an enlarged drawing of 

 a section of the fruiting perianth. The plant has a very limited geographical 

 range, being found only, as far as can be ascertained, in the arid interior of 

 New South Wales and South Australia, but nowhere is it reported to be 

 plentiful. It will withstand a phenomenal amount of dry weather, and if 

 left undisturbed it will grow through the severest of droughts. It is one 

 of our famous salinous plants which is well worthy of conservation and even 

 cultivation, and this can be easily brought about, for if the plant is left 

 undisturbed for a time it will produce an abundance of seed, which, when 

 ripe, will germinate readily under ordinary conditions. Even the cultivation 

 of this plant would well repay the trouble, for a most valuable forage could 

 always be depended upon during the most adverse times of drought and heat, 

 a forage too of which nerbivora of all kinds are remarkably fond. Reserved 

 areas of salinous plants will have to be a prominent feature on our arid 

 plains if pastoral occupation is to be successfully carried on in the future, 

 for it cannot be denied that many of these most valuable plants are gradually 

 disappearing, not always through overstocking, but by the constant tramping 

 of the animals' hoofs ; and the only Avay that this can be prevented is to have 

 reserved areas made so that the plants can recuperate, and the sooner this is 

 an accomplished fact, the less likely are stock to die of starvation, which they 

 do during every recurring drought. The seeds of the plant under notice 

 should be sown during the early autumn months, after rainfall if possible, 

 or failing this, the sowing can be deferred until September or October. 



