538 AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS HUMAN FOOD-PROVIDING PLANTS, 



bags containing the stalks of a vegetable that had apparently 

 undergone some culinary process, which gave them the appearance 

 of having been half boiled. Vegetables are thus cooked, I was 

 told, by placing the root or plant between layers of hot embers, 

 until it is heated and softened. The stalks found in the bag 

 resembled those of the potato, and they could only be chewed, 

 such food being neither nutritious nor palatable, for it tasted only 

 of smoke." 



This plant is not endemic in Australia. 



All the colonies. 



166. PiPTURUS ARGENTEUS, Wedd., (8yn. F. propinquus, Wedd.; 

 Urtica gigantea, Forst.), N.O. Urticeae, B.Fl., vi., 185. P. 

 propinquus in Muell. Cens., p. 22. 



" Native Mulberry," " Kongangn," and " Coomeroo-coomeroo " 

 of Queensland aboriginals. 



The white berries are eaten by the aboriginals (Thozet). 

 This plant is not endemic in Australia. 

 New South Wales and Queensland. 



167. PiTTOSPORUM PHiLLYR.EOiDEs, DC, (Syu. P. angusti/oUum, 

 Lodd. ; and others), N.O. Pittosporese, B.Fl., i., 112. 



Called variously "Butter-bush," "Native Willow," and "Poison- 

 l)erry " tree. 



The seeds are very bitter to the taste, yet the aborigines in the 

 interior were in the habit of pounding them into floui- for use as 

 food (Tepper . 



In all the colonies except Tasmania. 



168. PoDOCARPUs spiNL'LOSA, R.Br., (Syti. P.aspleni/olia,Lahill; 

 P. piingens, Caley. ; Xageia spinulosa, F.v.M.), N.O. Coni- 

 feraj, B.Fl., vi. 247. iV^. spinulosa in Mull. Cens., p. 109. 



" Native Plum " or " Native Damson." 



This shrub possesses edible fruit, something like a plum, hence 

 its vernacular names. The Ptev. Dr. Woolls tells me that, mixed 

 with jam of the Native Currant (Leptomeria acida), it makes a 

 very good pudding. 



New South Wales. 



