80 Forage Plants of Australia. 



OKDER CHENOPODIACEJE. 



KOCHIA STELLIftEKA, F. v. M. 



" Star-fruited Saltbush." 



Flora Austr., Vol. V, p. 189. 



A DIFFUSE or procumbent undershrub, spreading from 1 foot to 2 feet, with 

 slender ascending branches to about 6 inches high, clothed, as well as the 

 young foliage, with a white cottony wool, which wears off from the older 

 leaves. The leaves are alternate, sessile, soft, and about \ of an inch long. 

 Flowers small and solitary in the axils of the leaves, but often crowded at the 

 end of the branches. 



Figure 1 is an enlarged drawing of the fruiting perianth, which is of a 

 thick hard consistence, the summit very flat, and bordered by a very narrow 

 rather rigid horizontal wing, with ten or twelve short, rigid, equally radiating 

 teeth or points, as shown in the engraving. 



This plant is peculiar to the arid central plains and sandhills in New 

 South Wales and the western parts of Queensland, but it is not reported 

 to be very plentiful anywhere, for when herbs and grasses are somewhat 

 scarce ir times of drought it has been much sought after by all herbivora. 

 They are remarkably fond of the plant, and often eat it down so close that 

 it has little opportunity to produce seed so as to reproduce itself in a natural 

 way. When left unmolested for a time, however, it produces seed in moderate 

 quantities, and these, when ripe, germinate readily under ordinary conditions. 



The seeds of this plant should be sown during the early autumn months, 

 and after rainfall if possible, for they will germinate more quickly if this 

 is done. 



