Forage Plants of Australia. 89 



ORDER CASUARINE.E, 



CASUABINA GLAUCA, SIEB. 



" Belar," or Bull Oak." 

 Flora Ausfr., Vol. VI, p. 196. 



A RATHER ill-grown tree, attaining a usual height of 30 or 40 feet, though 

 at times it grows upwards of 60 feet high. In the interior the tree is often 

 glaucous, which gives it a slightly silvery appearance, and makes it quite a 

 feature in the landscape. The male flowers are arranged in rather dense 

 spikes of \ to 1 inch long, terminating the deciduous branchlets, as illustrated 

 at the larger branch of the engraving. They have a perianth of one or two 

 concave segments which are forced off by the development of the one stamen. 

 The female flowers have no perianths, but each style has two very long 

 filiform stigmatic branches. At figure 1 is illustrated a young cone, and at 

 figure 2 a matured one, which is usually subglobose, flat topped, and rarely 

 much above \ an inch in diameter. This tree has a wide geographical range in 

 Australia, being found in Queensland, Xew South Wales, Victoria, and South 

 Australia, from the coastal districts to the arid interior, and in many situa- 

 tions it is plentiful. Notwithstanding that it is much cut down as forage 

 for stock during drought when grasses and other herbage are scarce, its 

 free seeding qualities, together with the easy germination of its seeds, have 

 rendered it proof against extermination. It is a tree of remarkably rapid 

 growth, and endures the torrid heat of summer, and the intense cold of 

 winter, experienced on our central plains, with impunity. 



Where shelter is required on our arid plains, there are very few trees that 

 could be recommended as being more suitable for the purpose. If required 

 for shelter, the seed should be sown in drills between parallel fences. The 

 early autumn after rainfall is the best time to sow the seed. The timber 

 of this species, which is from 18 to 24 inches in diameter, is very hard and 

 durable, and is used for shingles, staves, fence posts, &c. 



There are nineteen species of the genus Casuarina found in Australia, and 

 they are generally distributed, over the continent from the coast to the arid 

 interior. Some of them are of shrubby habit, whilst others grow into large 

 trees. They are of considerable economic value from the excellent timber 

 some of them yield, and besides, their smaller branchlets are excellent forage 

 for stock during drought time. Casuarina foliage has a pleasant acidulous 

 taste, owing to a crystallisable substance allied to bicitrate of lime (Mueller), 

 which stock of all descriptions greedily feed upon. Some of the species are 

 found growing on the most uncongenial of soils, and under climatic condi- 

 tions that are unfavourable to many plants. Consequently they are well 

 worthy of being conserved or planted in such places. 



