44 
Vegetable Productions 
appearance the Exocarpus strictus , or like broom, only of 
a deeper green colour : like it also, it is devoid of leaves, 
but the branches are more slender and delicate. It bears 
its numerous spikes of small white flowers, and subse¬ 
quently its green fruit, at the extremity of the branches. 
The whole plant, as well as the fruit, is of an acid taste, 
with a certain degree of astringency, but well suited when 
chewed to allay thirst. This plant is usually found in 
light sandy soil, but it varies its station much. Although 
not abundant, it is widely distributed. 
Nat. Ord. Casuarineje. She-oak family. 
Casuarina quadrivalvis . Common She-oak. 
The leaves, or rather young branches, of this tree 
when chewed yield a pleasant acid ; and I have found 
them extremely useful in some of my rambles when in 
want of water. Cattle are also exceedingly fond of them. 
This tree does not exist in the north-western parts of the 
Colony. 
MONOCOTYLEDONES. 
Nat. Ord. OacniDEjE. Orchis family. 
A number of plants of this family have small bulbous 
roots, which were eaten by the Aborigines, as they are 
still by cockatoos, bandicoots ( Perameles ), kangaroo rats 
( Hypsiprymnus) , &c. Little holes are often seen where 
the latter animals have been scratching for them. 
Gastrodia sesamoides is a plant of this family which 
grows from the decaying roots of the stringy-bark (Eu¬ 
calyptus sp.): it is leafless, with flowers of a brown colour, 
and attains to a height of one to two feet. Mr. Back¬ 
house observes—“ It produces bulb-tubers, growing one 
out of another, of the size, and nearly the form, of 
kidney potatoes; the lowermost is attached by a bundle 
of thick fleshy fibres to the root of the tree, from which 
it derives its nourishment. These roots were roasted 
