122 INDIGENOUS VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF VICTORIA. 



properties of allied species, although, they may belong to very distant 

 countries. This tree supplies us here with the Winter bark of the Magellan 

 Straits. 



The saccharine secretion known as Australian manna is occasionally, 

 during the hottest months of the year, obtainable in considerable quantities 

 from the leaves and tender twigs chiefly of the Eucalyptus viminalis ; but, 

 containing no mannite, it cannot be regarded as a substitute for Ornus 

 manna. The exudation which encrusts now and then the bark of 

 Myoporum platycarpum, a small desert tree, resembles raw sugar. 



The wattle bark, chiefly from Acacia mollissima and pycnaniha, is used 

 medicinally as an astringent ; but technically it is employed in all our 

 tanneries, and formed, previous to the Australian gold era, an article of 

 export to the English market. The gum resin of the Eucalypti is likewise 

 employed for tanning. The abundance of salsolaceous plants, as well 

 inland as along the coast, favours evidently the manufacture of soda. 



Perfume Plants. — There are few plants indigenous to Victoria, as far 

 as known, which may be regarded practically valuable for their perfume ; 

 none of them would supersede in odour or in yield of essential oil any of 

 those already elsewhere in use ; but it shoidd be remembered that many of 

 our native plants are as yet imperfectly examined in this respect, and it is, 

 therefore, possible that future experiments may prove the existence of 

 plants possessing a sufficiently copious supply of scented oil to render them 

 available for distillation. 



The great prevalence of myrtaceous trees and shrubs throughout 

 Australia is a well-established fact. All, without exception, are cha- 

 racterised by the presence of a greater or lesser quantity of essential oil, 

 pervading leaves and flowers. This applies not only to the huge masses of 

 Eucalypti which mainly constitute our forests, and all yield, as stated 

 before, an aromatic volatile, often, however, somewhat camphoric oil, but 

 also to the " tea-trees," species of Melaleuca and Leptospermum, so called 

 because their oil, which gives to an infusion of their leaves an aromatic 

 taste either strong or pleasant, was used by Cook and other early 

 Australian navigators as an antiscorbutic tea. 



More important as perfume plants are some of the species of Bseckia 

 and Ckameelaucieae, embracing numerous handsome and common shrubs of 

 th e Myrtle family, of which some are impregnated with large quantities of 

 truly well-scented oil. But of their actual yield we have no exact record. 



How far the plants of the Rue tribe, which are all strongly odorous 

 from essential oil, are of value for perfume distillation, future experiments 

 must prove. The impression, however, will probably be correct, that they 

 furnish an oil useful for medicine rather than for the toilette. 



The plants of the Mint tribe deserve here particidar notice ; for our 

 three kinds of native mint possess an exceedingly pleasant odour, very 

 different from that of the crisp or the peppermint. The species of Prostan- 

 thera are nearly all strongly and agreeably scented Their oil could be 

 cheaply enough obtained, but would be only useful for admixture with 



