226 



SELECT PLANTS READILY ELIGIBLE 



often sprinkled over cakes. One of the advantages of tlie 

 culture of this plant consists in its quick return of produce. 

 The soot of the oil is used for China-ink. 



Sesbania aculeata, Persoon. 



The Danchi. Intra-tropical and sub-tropical Asia, Africa 

 and Australia. This tall annual plant has proved adapted 

 for our desert-regions. It yields a tough fibre for ropes, nets 

 and cordage, valued at from £30 to £40 for the ton. Several 

 congeneric plants can be equally well utilised. 



Sesbania cannabina, Persoon. 



South Asia. An annual herb of easy gro^vth in wet 

 localities, requiring less attention in weeding and otherwise 

 than the Jute-plant. The crop for fibre ripens in about five 

 months. 



Sesleria coerulea, Axduino.* 



Most parts of Europe. Of this perennial grass Langethal ob- 

 serves, that it is for dry and loose limestone what Elymus are- 

 narius is for loose sand. It stands well depasturing by sheep 

 and is one of the earliest grasses in the season. S. dacty- 

 loides, Nuttall (Buchloa dactyloides, Torrey), is the Bufialo- 

 grass of Kansas. 



Sesuvium Portulacastmm, Linne. 



All around the globe on the shores of tropical and some sub- 

 tropical countries, occurring naturally as far south as Port 

 Jackson. A perennial creeping herb, fit to fix the sandy silt 

 on the edges of sea-coasts. 



Sbepherdia argentea, Nuttall. 



The Bufialo-Berry. Erom the Missouri to Hudson's Bay. 

 This bush bears red acidulous edible berries. 



Shorea robusta, Gaertner. 



The Sal -tree. India, up to 3000 feet. It attains as a maxi- 

 mum a height of 150 and a gii^th of 25 feet. One of the most 

 famed of Indian timber-trees. It could likely be grown in 

 the warm forest-valleys of East Gipps Land. Drs. Stewart 

 and Brandis found it on sandstone, conglomerate, gravelly 

 and shingly ground, where loose water-transmitting soils are 

 mixed with a large portion of vegetable mould. The climatic 

 conditions within a Sal-area may be expressed as : — Mean an- 

 nual rainfall, 40 to 100 inches; mean temperature, in the cool 

 season 55° to 77°, in the hot season 77° to 85° F. Sal will 

 stand the occasional sinking of the temperature below freezing- 

 point. The heart-wood is dark-brown, coarse-grained, hard, 

 very heavy, strong, tough, with fibrous cross-structure, the 

 fibres interlaced. For buildings, river-boats and railway- 

 sleepers it is the most important timber of North India. It 

 exudes a pale, aromatic, Dammar-like resin. 



