318 FOREST TBBES. 



blacks assemble from all quarters to feast on it. 

 The food seems to have a fattening effect upon tliem, 

 and they eat large quantities of it, after roasting it 

 at a fireJKi Contrary to tlieir usual habits, they some- 

 times store vip the Bunya nuts,hiding themin a Avater- 

 hole for a month or two. Here they germinate, and 

 become offensive in taste to a white man's palate, 

 but are considered by the blacks to have then ac- 

 quired an improved flavour. The taste of the Bunya 

 when fresh has been described as something between 

 a chestnut and a raw potato." 



Cultivation.— The same as for J. Cooldi. But as 

 the tree attains a greater diameter than the latter it 

 should be planted at 45 feet apart Only strong 

 seedlings of 18 inches and upwards sliould be used 

 for planting out in the field. 



583 Araucaria excelsa, B. Br. 



The Norfolk Island pine. This magnificent 

 tree, which has recently been introduced for trial 

 attains, a maximun height of 220 feet, with trunk 

 10 feet in diameter. Like the other species of the 

 genus, it is conical in form, rigidly symmetrical, and 

 evergreen. The timber has been used in Australia 

 for ship-building. Propagate from seed, and plant 

 out finally at 40 feet apart. 



584 Araucaria Cunninghamii, Ait. 



The Moreton Bay pine. Although, as will be 

 seen further on, tliis is the most ornamental and 

 useful tree in Queensland, it is by no means the 

 best species for this part of India. ' In local culti- 

 vation it shoots up too rapidly and becomes, in 

 most specimens, a mere chandelabral spindle, the 

 mtcrnodes between the upper whorls of branches 

 being sometimes 16 feet in length. This over- 

 draAvn growth is unsatisfactory, and causes the local 

 tree to possess a weird or fantastic appearance 

 which IS quite unnatural to the species. T}ip tree 



