INDIGENOUS VEGETABLES. 25 



to attribute the continuance of our health partially to the con- 

 stant use of this valuable plant. The absence of other antiscor- 

 butic herbs in the north, and the facility with which it may be 

 gathered, entitle it to particular notice." During the last 

 drought, a friend of mine, without knowing the properties of the 

 purslane, was induced to try it as a vegetable, imagining that it 

 must be nearly allied to spinach ; and she assures me that she 

 regarded it "as a most valuable table- vegetable." It is highly 

 important that the value of purslane should be made known, for, 

 in many parts where the usual garden- vegetables cannot be pro- 

 cured, it might be employed with much advantage as an anti- 

 scorbutic. I have not found in this neighbourhood any other 

 species of the genus, nor do I believe that any such exist here ; 

 but not long since, I collected at the North Hocks near Parra- 

 matta, a specimen of a Calandnnia, which my learned friend Dr. 

 F. Mueller recognises as (7. calyptrata. The leaves of this are 

 fleshy and succulent, but as the plant is small and of rare oc- 

 currence, it cannot be regarded as available for the same pur- 

 poses as the purslane. 



The " Fat Hen" alluded to is Chenopodium erosum, and 

 as an esculent vegetable^ it seems to be better known to the 

 colonists than the purslane. In Europe, some plants of the 

 allied genus Atriplex have been cultivated as pot-herbs, es- 

 pecially A. liortensis, which by the way, seems much better 

 adapted to our climate than the true Spinach, (Sjpinacia oleracea.) 

 At Ash Island, A. patidum and A. cinereum occur, and on the 

 banks of the Darling, Sir T. Mitchell discovered A. halimoides. 

 This genus is nearly allied to the " salt bush" of the colonists 

 (Rhagodia hastata), of which I collected .5. Billardiera also on 

 Ash Island. Some of the Chenopods have been introduced here, 

 such as C. murale and C. ainbrosioides, and they are becoming 

 troublesome weeds, but C. Australe (which seems to be a mere 

 variety of (7. maritimum), and Salicornia indica possess useful 

 qualities ; the former being adapted for the same purposes as 

 purslane, and the latter containing Barilla, and also being a sub- 

 stitute for samphire when pickled. I have frequently used C. 

 Australe for pickle, and have found it far from contemptible. 

 The other species of the genus common here is C. triangulare, 

 the utricle of which is of a reddish colour when ripe, and con- 



