28 SELECT PLANTS READILY ELIGIBLE 



Avena pubescens, Linne. 



Downy Oat-Grass. Europe, North and Middle Asia. A 

 sweet perennial grass, requiring dry but good soil, containing 

 lime. It is nutritious and prolific. One of the earliest 

 kinds, but not well resisting traffic. Several good Oat- 

 grasses are peculiar to North America and other parts of the 

 globe. Theii- relative value as fodder-grasses is in many cases 

 not exactly known, nor does the limit assigned to this little 

 treatise allow of tlieir being enumerated on this occasion. 



Averrhoa Carambola, Linne. 



Insular India. Dr. Hooker having found this small tree on 

 the Upper Indus as far as Lahore, it may reasonably be 

 anticipated that success would attend its rearing in the 

 warmest and moistest parts of our colonial territory. The 

 fruit occurs in a sweet and acid variety; the former is raw 

 available for the table, the other for preserves. That of A. 

 Bilimbi (Linne) is of similar use. 



Avicennia officinalis, Linne. 



From the coasts of South Asia to those of South Africa, all 

 Australia and New Zealand. It is proposed by Dr. Herm. 

 Behr, to plant this tree for consolidating muddy tidal shores. 



Azima tetracantha, Lamarck. 



From South India to South Africa. A hedge-bush, gi'owing 

 freely in every kind of soil. 



Baccharis pilularis, CandoUe. 



California. This evergreen bush, like B. consanguinea, is 

 gro^^Ti for hedges, used also for garlands, wrappers of flower 

 bouquets and many decorative purposes, as cut branches do 

 not wither for a considerable time. It attains a height of 15 

 feet (Professor Bolander). 



Backhousia citriodora, F. v. Mueller. 



South Queensland. Though only a small tree it is well 

 worth cultivating for the fragrance of its lemon-scented 

 foliage. 



Bactris Gasipaes, Humboldt. (Guilielma speciosa, Mart.) 

 The Peach Palm of the Amazon Biver, ascending to the 

 warm-temperate regions of the Andes. Stems clustered, 

 attaining a height of 40 feet. Dr. Spruce describes the 

 large bunches of fruits as possessing a thick, firm and mealy 

 pericarp, which, when cooked, has a flavour between potato 

 and chestnut, but superior to either. To us, however, this 

 palm would be mainly an object of grandeur. It is likely to 

 endure our clime in the fern-tree gullies. 



