Botany. 385 



Goodeniaceae, with the exception perhaps of a few species, contains a 

 tonic bicterness never recognised before, and discernible in many plants 

 in so high a degree, that I was induced for this reason to bestow upon a 

 new genus from the interior the name of Picrophyta. This property, 

 which indicates a certain alliance to Gentianae, deserves the more con- 

 sideration, as the true Gentianse are so sparingly distributed through 

 Australia, while the Goodeniaceae form everywhere here a prominent feature 

 in the vegetation. Our Alps, however, enrich us also with a thick-rooted 

 Gentian (G. Diemensis), certainly as valuable as the officinal Gentiana 

 lutea ; and in the spring, Sabaea ovata, Sabaea albidiflora, and Erythraea 

 Australis, might also be collected on account of their bitterness. The 

 bark of the Australian Sassafras tree (Atherospermum moschatum) has 

 already obtained some celebrity as a substitute for tea ; administered in 

 a greater concentration, it is diaphoretic as well as diuretic, and has for 

 this reason already been practically introduced into medicine by one of 

 our eminent physicians. Isotoma axillaris surpasses all other indigenous 

 Lobeliaceas in its intense acridity, and can be therefore only cautiously 

 employed instead of Lobelia inflata. The root of Malva Behriana scarcely 

 differs from that of Althaea officinalis, and the Salep root might be col- 

 lected from many Orchideae. Few may be aware that the Cajeput oil of 

 India is obtained from trees very similar to our common Melaleucas ; and 

 that even from the leaves of the Eucalypti an oil can be procured of equal 

 utility. The Sandarac, exuding from the Callitris, or Pine-tree, the 

 balsamic resin of the grass-trees, and, moreover, the Eucalyptus gum, 

 which could be gathered in boundless quantities, and which for its astrin- 

 gent qualities might here at least supersede the use of kino or catechu, 

 will probably at a future period form articles of export. Several Acacias 

 are of essential service, either for their durable wood, or for the abun- 

 dance of tannin in their bark, which has rendered them already useful, or 

 for their gum ; but the latter is even excelled in clearness and solubility 

 by that obtained from Pittosporum acacioides. This species, as well as 

 many other plants of the same order, is distinguished by a surprising, 

 yet apparently harmless bitterness — a quality that warrants our expecting 

 considerable medicinal power, and which deserves so much more atten- 

 tion, as till now we know nothing of the usefulness of the Pittosporeae, 

 although this order extends over a great part of the eastern hemisphere. 

 The Australian manna consists in a saccharine secretion, condensed chiefly 

 by the cicades from a few species of Eucalypti, but is chemically very dif- 

 ferently constituted to the Ornus manna, and much less aperient. All our 

 splendid Diosmeae — a real ornament to the country — approach more or 

 less in their medicinal effect to the South African Buchu-bushes. Baekea 

 utilis, from Mount Aberdeen, might serve travellers in those desolate 

 localities as tea ; for the volatile oil of its leaves resembles greatly in taste 

 and odour that of lemons, not without a pleasant, peculiar aroma. Tri- 

 gonella suavissima proved valuable as an antiscorbutic spinach in Sir 

 Thomas Mitchell's expedition ; and the Tetragonella implexicoma, the 

 various Cardamines, Nasturtium terrestre, or Lawrencia spicata, may 

 likewise be used for the same purpose. The root of Scorzonera Lawrencii 

 — a favourite food of the natives — would form, if enlarged by culture, an 

 agreeable substitute for Scorzonera hispanica, or Asparagus ; and Anis- 

 tome glacialis — a large-rooted umbelliferous plant, from the snowy top of 

 Mount Buller — will be added perhaps hereafter to the culinary vegetables 

 of the colder climates. Seeds of the latter plants, amongst many others, 

 have been procured for the Botanic Gardens. Santalum lanceolatum, 

 Mesembryanthemum aequilaterale, Leptomeria pungens, and Leptomeria 

 acerba, deserve notice for their agreeable fruit." — [Report by Dr F.Muller, 

 Government Botanist.) 



