THE EIYER DAELIXG. 195 



in sessile clusters. It is remarkable from the fact that " the per- 

 fume of the herb, its freshness and flavour," induced Sir Thomas 

 Mitchell to try it as a vegetable, and that he found it " delicious, 

 tender as spinach, and preserving a very green colour when 

 boiled." Sir Thomas gathered this interesting plant in the dry 

 bed of a tributary to the Darling, probably under circumstances 

 similar to those in which the late survey party was placed. He 

 regarded it as a new form of A ustralian vegetation, resembling that 

 of the South of Europe, and called it " The Australian Sham- 

 rock." Lotus Australis is one of those plants which has a very 

 wide distribution in Australia, and is regarded as being highly 

 injurious to sheep and cattle. It looks very much like some of 

 the European species, called " Bird's Foot Trefoils." The two 

 species of Psoralea have small bluish flowers, and although not 

 ornamental, they are interesting as being closely allied to the 

 African plant P. plicata. P. ttnax (collected by Mitchell) is 

 remarkable for the extreme toughness of its flower stalks, which 

 cannot be broken without difficulty. Sesbania aculeata is an 

 erect shrub with small yellow flowers, and leaves consisting of 

 forty or fifty pairs of leaflets. Glycyrrhiza psoraleoides belongs 

 to a genus near the liquorice of commerce, and as it is well 

 figured amongst Dr. E. Mueller's lithograms, it may easily be 

 recognised by its small muricated pods. The " Desert pea," or 

 Clianthus Dampieri, is one of our most admired flowers, and 

 during the ,ast dry season it was most successfully cultivated in the 

 neighbourhood of Sydney and Parramatta. Swainsona Greyana 

 is also worthy of cultivation, although, from the deleterious pro- 

 perties which it is known to possess, it is no great favourite with 

 the squatters on the Darling. The flowers are large and pink, 

 and the calyx densely cottony white, from which peculiarity it 

 may be easily distinguished from the other species. On the Dar- 

 ling, this is called " the Poison Pea," and it is reported to cause 

 madness, if not death itself, to horses. The poison seems to act 

 on the brain, for animals affected by it obstinately refuse to cross 

 even a small twig lying in their path, probably imagining it to be 

 a great log. Sometimes the poor creatures attempt to climb 

 trees, or commit other eccentricities, Mrs. Eorde in writing 

 from the Darling, says " This plant is regarded with horror up 

 here, but yet it is very pretty, and reminds m3 strongly of S. 



