81 
The Belah is sometimes eaten by stock, is very woody and astringent, which is claimed for all the 
Casuarinas in this (Coolabah) district. If fed to stock for any length of time the results are disastrous. 
—(R. W. Peacock.) 
Stock will eat Belah in times of drought if hard pushed, but the settler does not fell Belah for 
fodder when he has Mulga, Leopardwood, Rosewood, Kurrajong, Supple Jack, etc., of a more nutritious 
character.—(H. V. Jackson.) 
Valuable fodder in S.A.—(M. Koch.) 
Flowers. —Mueller had not seen the male flowers at the time of describing 
the species, but those drawn were taken from a type locality “between the Upper 
Bogan and Lachlan,” and, it is presumed, were received at the Melbourne Herbarium 
from L. Morton after the species was described and in response to Mueller’s request. 
Fruits.—I have figured a cone of C. lepidophloia so labelled by Mueller. 
As a matter of fact it is one of the smallest cones produced by the species, but the 
identity of it with the Belah is not open to question. So far as our very complete 
herbarium material goes, Mr. Baker is quite right in saying “ the valves are rarely 
fulvous pubescent, but nearly always whitish ” ; but cones and nuts agree otherwise 
well with Mueller’s description, and therefore the objection raised is unessential. 
All other differences are in bark and timber, also size of tree—characters seldom 
indicated in herbarium material. They are simply collector’s notes, and so long as 
non-botanists collect material, every herbarium will contain specimens and notes less 
complete than they might have been made. 
Bark. —The adjective “ squamosus ” is not specially appropriate to apply to 
much of the Belah in N.S.W.; but the word might easily have been less appropriate, 
and does not affect the validity of the description. Mr. Baker says the bark of the 
Belah is “ certainly not flaky.” He quotes Mr. R. H. Cambage, who writes ( Proc. 
Linn. Soc. N.S.W. xxiv, p. 609) in comparing the two Casuarinas “Belah” and 
Bull Oak ” ((7. Luehmcmni) :— 
The bark of the Belah is the smoother, while that of the Bull Oak is considerably furrowed and 
thicker. 
This agrees fairly well with what Mueller, perhaps from Morton’s notes, 
writes:— 
Bark, according to Morton, scaly, not deeply furrowed. 
Morton compares the bark of C. lepidophloia with C. glauca, but as C. glauca 
has not been found in the western plains, he means in all probability the “ Bull 
Oak,” C. Luehmanni, which has a furrowed bark. 
Timber. —A first-class fuel wood. 
It is very easily killed by ringbarking, never suckers, and burns very readily. Timber is rather 
straight and tough, but most liable to split with the weather.—(R. W. Peacock.) 
Timber very hard, and if split it makes good rails, but it decays rapidly in contact with the ground. 
—(R. Kidston, Condobolin.) 
c 
