Vegetable Productions of Tasmania . 
35 
Art. VI. Remarks on the Indigenous Vegetable Pro¬ 
ductions of Tasmania available as Food for Man. 
By Ronald C. Gunn, Esq. 
In the Van Diemen’s Land Annual for 1834, edited 
by Dr. Ross, appeared an able paper, “ On the Roots 
and other indigenous Esculents of the Colony,” from the 
pen of Mr. James Backhouse, an eminent naturalist. 
That account met with deserved attention in Europe, 
from the remarkable circumstance that so few of the 
indigenous plants of these Colonies yield any fruit suit¬ 
able for human subsistence. In this respect, as has long 
been noticed by botanists and others, Australia stands 
singularly apart from every other portion of the known 
world. 
The present article is chiefly a republication of the 
paper alluded to, but with such additions as a longer 
residence in the Colony enables me to make. 
Mr. Backhouse classified the plants, as far as prac¬ 
ticable, into those yielding Roots, Fruits, or Leaves 
available for the sustenance of man; but I shall deviate 
from that course, and notice them according to their 
natural orders, as they follow in the system of De 
Candolle. 
DICOTYLEDONES. 
Nat. Ord. Cruciferje. Cress family. 
Genus, Cardamine. 
C. heterophylla is a small cress, common in good light 
soil in most parts of the Colony. 
C. nivea is a larger species, found growing on the 
South Esk, near Launceston, and at the base of Mount 
Wellington. 
C. tenuifolia is an aquatic species, common about 
Norfolk Plains and the western parts of the Colony. 
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