278 



A BOTANICAL CURIOSITY. 



tion. The strangest plant, which is also the most widely distributed, 

 is undoubtedly the Xanthorrhcea arborea,* forming a conspicuous 

 feature in the dreary landscape, and when stripped of its leaves 

 resembling a black man holding a spear. The leaves afford good 

 fodder for cattle, while the natives eat the soft white centre of the 



VEGETABLE LIFE ON THE AUSTRALIAN PLAINS. 



1. Doryanthes excelsa. 



2. Aralia crassifolia. 



3. Dryandra repens. 

 1. Cordyline congesta. 



top of the stem. They yield two 'kinds of fragrant resin one of 

 a yellow colour, balsamic and inodorous, called Botany Bay ; and the 

 other red, called Black Boy Gum. The tree which the settlers 

 have christened " Black Boy" and " Grass Gum" has a thick trunk, 

 encrusted in a thick coating of the persistent basis of old leaves, 

 * Order, Liliacex. 



