178 FOKEST CULTUBE AND 



It would add to the aliment which the natives now 

 obtain from these lakes and swamps by diving for the 

 roots and fruits of the Nymphse, or for the tubers of 

 Heleocharis sphacelata, of species of Aponogeton, or 

 by uprooting the starchy rhizomes of Typha augusti- 

 folia (the Bullrush), when eager of adding a vegetable 

 compound to their diet of Unio shells, or of water- 

 fowls and fishes, all abounding on these favorite places 

 of their resort. Trapa bispinosa, already living, like 

 the Victoria, in the tanks of our conservatories, ought, 

 with Trapa natans, for the sake of its nuts, not only 

 to be naturalized in the waters of the north, but also 

 in the lagoons and swamps of the south. Around 

 these lakes Screw-Pines (Pandanus spiralis and Pan- 

 danus aquaticus) may often be seen to emerge from 

 the banks, the latter, as recorded already by Leich- 

 hardt, always indicative of permanent water. The 

 young top-parts of the stems of these Pandans, when 

 subjected to boiling, become free of acridity, and thus 

 available, in cases of emergency, for food. Opilia 

 amentacea and the weeping Eugenia eucalyptoides, 

 together with a native cucumber (Cucumis jucunda), 

 are here among the few plants yielding edible fruit. 

 Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) abounds, and in sandy 

 soil it is found pleasantly acidulous. It will always 

 be acceptable, as a salad or spinach, especially in affec- 

 tions from scurvy, and its amylaceous seeds might, 

 in cases of distress, be readily gathered for food. A 

 delicious tall perennial spinach (Chenopodium aurica- 

 mum) is not unfrequent. Beyond one kind of San- 

 darach Callitris no Pines exist in the north, except 

 the Araucaria Greyi, noticed on a circumscribed spot 

 on the Glenelg river, The true Bamboo (Bambusa 



