24 FLORA OF AUSTRALIA. 



weavers by affording them the means of employment in working 

 up some portions of the Zostera that is now scattered on our 

 coasts. 



[The preceding remarks were written at the period, when in 

 consequence of the American War, the supply of cotton was al- 

 together inadequate for the British Market, and benevolent men 

 in different parts of the world were searching after vegetable 

 fibres, as substitutes for cotton. Mr. Harben's suggestions 

 were not disregarded, but on investigation, it was found that 

 the machinery used in the manufacture of cotton goods was not 

 adapted to the Zostera, and further that instead of producing an 

 article similar to cotton, this plant would have worked up into a 

 fabric, more analogous to silk.] 



I 



INDIGENOUS YEGETABLES. 



NOTICED some remarks lately in a colonial paper in refer- 

 ence to certain plants which may be used in seasons of 

 scarcity as substitutes for cultivated vegetables. These plants, 

 it is observed, are popularly termed " Pigweed/' " Fat-Hen," and 

 " New Zealand Spinach." The first of these is purslane or Por- 

 tulaca oleracea, which was formerly cultivated as a pot-herb, 

 the young shoots and leaves having been used in spring and 

 autumn as ingredients in pickles and salads. It is still retained 

 in the Pharmacopeia, as " cooling, useful in scurvy and bilious 

 disorders : seeds vermifuge," and there can be no doubt of its de- 

 served reputation, for in Dr. F. Mueller's botanical report on the 

 North -Australi an Expedition, he remarks, " We had almost daily 

 occasion to praise the value of the purslane, which not only oc- 

 curred in every part of the country explored, but also principally 

 in the neighbourhood of rivers, often in the greatest abundance. 

 We found it, in sandy and grassy localities, so agreeably acidulous, 

 as to use it for food without any preparation ; and I have reason 



