26 FLORA OF AUSTRALIA. 



tains one small black seed. I fancy that the leaves of this plant 

 must contain properties similar to Salicornia, for after having 

 chewed them, a person experiences an unpleasant sensation in 

 the throat, probably occasioned by the alkali they contain. 



The plant called " New Zealand Spinach," though perhaps 

 somewhat inappropriately, is indigenous in Eastern Australia, as 

 well as in New Zealand. It is known to botanists as Tetmgonia 

 expansa, and a few years since was rather a favourite with Eng- 

 lish gardeners, being regarded by them as a substitute for the 

 true spinach, which is a dioecious plant of the Chenopod family, 

 and rather troublesome to gardeners. Captain Cook is said to 

 have used the New Zealand spinacn and to have had it served 

 out to the sailors every day, at breakfast and dinner. It was in- 

 troduced into England by Sir Joseph Banks in 1772, and Don 

 mentions that during the whole summer of 1821, no other spinach 

 was used in the Earl of Essex's family at Cashiobury. This veg- 

 etable is no doubt antiscorbutic, and, therefore, it should be en- 

 couraged in all places where people are compelled to eat much 

 salt meat. In addition to the plants enumerated by late ob- 

 servers, I would add some species of the Amarantus family, two 

 of which (A. Blitum and A. oleraceus) have been introduced into 

 the colony, and are sometimes regarded as troublesome weeds. 

 The leaves of the latter have been much used in India. Both of 

 these plants are instanced in the Pharmacopoeia as "pot herbs," 

 and I have been assured by a person who has frequently used A. 

 oleraceus, that the leaves when boiled, are by no means to be 

 despised in "dry seasons. Many plants of the Amarantus family 

 are described by Brown as indigenous in Australia, but in this 

 part of the colony, I do not think that more than three occur, 

 viz., Deeringia celosioides (the bitter and acrid leaves of which are 

 used against the measles in Java) ; Nyssantlies media (a trouble- 

 some plant with spinescent bracts) ; and Altenanthera denticulata, 

 which grows in ditches, or on the banks of creeks. None of 

 these plants are of any utility as esculents, but in some parts of 

 Eastern Australia there are a few cruciferous vegetables which 

 are valuable whenever they can be procured, as the cruciferce 

 generally " contain azote or nitrogen in their composition, and, 

 therefore, easily putrefy, and furnish volatile alkali by distil- 

 lation." They are decidedly antiscorbutic before they are dried, 



