546 AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS HUMAN FOOD-PROVIDING PLANTS, 



189. Sterculia quadrifida, j^.^*-., N.O. Sterculiacese, B.Fl., i.^ 

 227. 



A " Kurrajong." " Calool " of the aborigines of northern 

 New South Wales. " Convavola " is another aboriginal name. 



The black seeds taste like filberts. As many as eleven of the 

 brilliant scarlet fruits may be seen in a cluster, and each of them 

 may contain up to ten or eleven seeds (Mueller). The mucila- 

 ginous substance of the unripe food is also edible (Thozet). 



Northern New South Wales, Queensland and Northern Aus- 

 tralia. 



190. Sterculia rupestris, Benth., (Syn. Delahechea rupestris, 

 Lindl.; BracJiychiton Delabechii,F.v.^I.); N.O. Sterculiacese, 

 B.FL, i., 230. Noted a,s Brack i/ chiton Delabechii, in Muell. 

 Cens , p. 15. 



A "Kurrajong." The "Bottle-tree" of N. E. Australia, and 

 also called " Gouty stem " on account of the extraordinary shape 

 of the trunk. It is the " Binkey " of the aboriginals. 



The stem abounds in a mucilaginous or gummy substance 

 resembliug pure tragacanth, which is wholesome and nutritious, 

 and is said to be used as an article of food by the aborigines in 

 cases of extreme need. A similar clear jelly is obtainable by 

 pouring boiling water on chips of the wood. 



"It is said that the soft juicy tissue of the .stem can be eaten, 

 and that many a wanderer in the bush has staved off hunger by 

 its means. The young shoots and roots of young trees are agreeable 

 and refreshing. The nuts also are eaten " (Thozet, also Tenison- 

 Woods, Proc. Linn. Soc. KS.JV., Vol. vii., p. 573). 



Thozet speaks of the natives cutting holes in the soft trunk, 

 where the water lodges, and rots the trunk to its centre. These 

 trunks are so many artificial reservoirs of water. When a tree has 

 been cut its resources are not exhausted. The tired hunter, when 

 he sees a tree that has been tapped, cuts a hole somewhat lower 

 than the old cuts, and obtains an abundant supply of the sweet 

 mucilaginous juice afforded by the tree. 



Queensland. 



