GRASS GUM TREE. 
torches ; and, from the centre, there grows a 
long stem, or bull-rush, ten or eleven feet in 
length, which those people sometimes use in 
making their spears and fiz-gigs \ but it is not 
tough, being very full of pith. 
At the flowering season, six or eight inches 
of the upper part is covered with a quantity 
of small pale yellow flowers, full of honey* 
The seeds, which are inclosed in hard, prick- 
ly vessels, inserted in the rush itself, are food 
only for parrots and cockatoos. 
Large disgusting grubs, or worms, are often 
found in the body of the tree, of which the 
natives are very fond. 
The medicinal qualities of this Gum, wliich 
is the Resin Acaroides of the last London 
Dispensary, are not unknown in England. It 
is of an astringent nature, and is said to have 
been given with some success in consumptive 
cases. It is a gum resin, slightly fragrant, 
and it's scarcely perceptible taste inclines to 
sweetness. 
This 
