27 



lanceolar in shape, and when fading the underside has a char- 

 acteristic pink hue. The Field Naturalists' Section found it 

 near Xoarlunga last summer. All sorts of stock feed upon it, 

 and its trailing stems are found on many of the sandhills in 

 central regions. 



Claytonia Bfdonnensis. — This showjplant, called "Munyeroo'* 

 by the aboriginals, derives its secondary scientific name from 

 the Balonne Eiver, Queensland. It has a cluster of thick 

 fleshy leaves, with a flower stem some six or more inches high, 

 crowned with bright deep pink flowers as large as a shilling. 

 Half an inch of rain, and it rapidly covers the sandhills. 

 Cattle then leave the waters and feed on it, going without a 

 drink for weeks together, and recently a large mob of cattle, 

 destined to stock a JSTorthern Territory run, travelled some 20O 

 miles without a drink — a truly wonderful journey — and without 

 this succulent herb altogether impossible. It is highly es- 

 teemed by bushmen and aborigines, and eaten either raw or 

 cooked. Many others of the Central Australian vegetation 

 are very interesting, and will repay a careful study, and some 

 may possibly prove adapted for cultivation. One succulent plant, 

 Poriulaca oleracea, common to Europe, Asia, and Australia, may 

 be found as a weed in our gardens, and is a useful sheep food 

 in central regions, where its rounded, fleshy, jointed stems 

 trailing close to the sand seem to luxuriate in heat, and to- 

 find the scantiest rain sufiicient to give it vigorous growth. 



In closing these very sketchy remarks, it ma}' be hoped that 

 as a knowledge of our native vegetation spreads, much advan- 

 tage will result to the colony ; for if our indigenous fodder 

 plants are preserved, instead of being recklessly and wantonly 

 destroyed, more good will result than by afterwards endeavour- 

 ing to introduce new plants from similar climates, although in 

 this direction also there is an immense field open of the most 

 promising description, but as far as experiments have yet gone 

 nothing exceeds, in practical use, our own native flora. 



