scientific papers — an extraordinary fact, when 
one considers the immense areas of arid or 
semi-arid country in Australia, and the long 
list of deaths from thirst since white settle- 
ment began. Most botanists appear to over- 
look this really invaluable property possessed 
by so many elements of our flora. What in- 
formation had been published took the form 
of generalisations in “popular” articles, and 
it was obvious that nearly all the writers had 
not tried the expedients which they so cheer- 
fully recommended. One death from thirst 
and three narrow escapes from a similar fate 
were directly traced to some of this misinfor- 
mation, typical of which is the common but 
quite erroneous advice to “go into the hollows'" 
when seeking water-yielding trees in sandhill 
country. As already pointed out at the com- 
mencement of this paper, the opposite thing 
holds good: the best trees are found on the 
slopes or crests of the dunes. 
For a time the writer feared that water ob- 
tained from flora with which he was not fami- 
liar might contain a poisonous principle; the 
fact that strychnine is obtained from plant 
roots, and that some tubers and bulbs are not 
fit for use as food until poisons such as hydro- 
cyanic acid have been leached from them, was 
kept in mind. It was found, however, that 
two simple rules would cover this possibility, 
and the classes were cautioned never to drink 
water from roots which also exuded a milky 
sap, or water from either stems or roots which 
had a sharp or bitter taste. On the other hand, 
it was found that water obtained from plants, 
whether they were shrubs of semi-desert dunes 
or the lianas of tropical rain forests, was al- 
ways sterile — an important fact, inasmuch 
as men on active service cannot always steri- 
lise their drinking water, and many tropical 
streams are contaminated. 
The writer regrets the fact that, not being a 
botanist, further details as to species and loca- 
tion cannot be given. This opportunity is 
taken to place on record the fact that invalu- 
able help with botanical problems was wil- 
lingly and promptly given by botanists, es- 
pecially by Miss Gladys Carey, of the Univer- 
sity of Sydney. However, many species could 
not be identified because they were not in 
flower at the time, and, as much travelling was 
done by air with severe restrictions on the 
amount of gear which could be carried, it 
was impossible to make collections of the 
leaves, (lowers and fruits of water-yielding 
flora for post-war study. 
The conclusions to be drawn from these ex- 
periences are: 
( 1 ) Botanists seem to have neglected to 
place on record the very useful property pos- 
sessed by many species of our native flora of 
yielding potable and perhaps life-saving 
water. 
(2) The opportunity exists for a botanist 
who is also a good bushman , to carry out con- 
tinent-wide field investigations, listing the 
water-yielding plants of Australia and the 
areas in which they are to be found. 
(3) Such information should be of vital 
interest to the Armed Services if Australia is 
sver again in danger of invasion. 
(4) Water- finding should be part of all 
Navy, Army and Air Force training, since the 
seaman who is cast ashore after his ship is 
sunk; the soldier cut off from his unit; and 
the airman who makes a forced landing, may 
find themselves reduced to the status of primi- 
tive men, and their chances of survival are 
greatly enhanced if their training enables 
them to act as an aborigine would do in a 
similar plight. 
Page Thirteen 
