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Other melliferous plants are and were used for the same purpose. Proteaccous 
plants are, as a rule, rich in honey. 
The name “honeysuckle” was applied to the genus BanJcsia by the early 
settlers, from the fact that the flowers, when in full bloom, contain, in a greater or 
lesser quantity, a sweet honey-like fluid, which is secreted in considerable quantities, 
especially after a dewy night, and is eagerly sucked out by the aborigines. 
It is so abundant in B. ericifulia and B. collina that when in flower the ground underneath large 
cultivated plants is in a complete state of puddle; bees and wasps become intoxicated, and many lose their 
lives in it.—( Smith : Dictionary of Useful Plants.) 
This may possibly be true of a particular BanJcsia, cultivated under exceptional 
conditions. I have, however, never heard of such a case. It certainly does not 
apply, except in a very modified degree, to the case of any BanJcsia I have noticed, 
and since I observed the above statement I have taken the trouble to look at 
hundreds of individuals of various species with the view to testing its accuracy. I 
also requested Mr. Bauerlen (a collector for the Technological Museum) to make 
similar observations, and he wrote :— 
I have never heard from anyone having observed the liquid exuding so abundantly as mentioned 
by Smith. I have found the flowers pretty rich in the honey-like liquid, and when travelling over dry, 
waterless areas I have sometimes sucked the liquid from the flowers to quench my thirst, but always 
endeavour not to do so, as it invariably gives me a headache and a feeling of nausea afterwards. 
Drummond ( HooJcer's Journ. Botany , ii) states that the natives of the Swan 
River district lived for five or six weeks principally upon the honey which they suck 
from the flowers of a species of BanJcsia (near grandis). 
Fruit .—The only use to which these cones have been put, so far as I am 
aware, is contained in the following paragraph:— 
The smaller and barren cones, being porous, wero used with fat by the bushman in the early days 
of the colony as night lights.—(Melville.) 
Timber.— We have two principal species of Honeysuckle, but although the 
wood of both is esteemed locally for various purposes, neither appears to be much in 
demand outside Australia. White Honeysuckle is a pinkish timber, showing a neat 
grain. It is, however, but little used as an ornamental timber, being chiefly 
employed for ribs and knees in boat-building, bullock yokes, &c. Minor uses are 
wood screws, bow-saw frames, walking-sticks, and clean turnery generally. Red 
Honeysuckle (B. serrata , Linn., f.) is a coarser, reJder timber. It is largely used 
for boat knees. It is a much inferior timber to the preceding. A thoroughly well- 
seasoned piece of timber gave a weight of 39 lb. per cubic foot. 
A drawback to this and other Banksia timbers is its liability for the living 
tree to be attacked by beetles. 
Size. —Up to 40 or 50 feet high, and with a trunk diameter up to i feet. 
