46 Vegetable Productions 
“ The blanched portion of the base of the inner leaves 
of some rushes, and of a flat sedgy plant growing on the 
sand-hills of the coast, having the mature leaves an inch 
wide and of a deep green, are eatable, and of a nutty 
flavour. The flowers of this plant, to the eye of a com¬ 
mon observer, resemble those of rushes. They grow in 
clusters on a stem as flat and broad as the leaves.” 
ACOTYLEDONES. 
Nat. Ord. Filices. Fern Family. 
Pteris esculenta . Eatable Fern. 
I cannot here do better than again quote largely from 
Mr. Backhouse, who remarks :—“ The most extensively 
diffused edible root of Van Diemen’s Land is that of the 
Tara fern. This greatly resembles Pteris aquilina , the 
common fern, brake, or breckon of England ; and, like 
it, throws up its single stems at short distances, covering 
great extents of light or rich land. The Van Diemen’s 
Land plant is Pteris esculenta , and is known among the 
Aborigines by the name of Tara : by the same name the 
inhabitants of the South Sea Islands call a variety of 
esculent seeds and roots. Pteris esculenta is known 
among the European inhabitants of the Colony by the 
name of Fern, in common with many other plants of the 
same tribe ; none of which, however, spread over exten¬ 
sive portions of open land in the same manner. It varies 
in height from a few inches to several feet, according to 
the richness of the soil in which it grows ; and in some 
parts of the Colony it is so tall as to conceal a man on 
horseback. The root is not bulbous, but creeps horizon¬ 
tally at a few inches below the surface of the earth, and, 
where it is luxuriant, attains to the thickness of a man’s 
thumb. Pigs feed upon this root where it has been 
turned up by the plough ; and in sandy soils they will 
themselves turn up the earth in search of it. The Abo- 
Le^ido«|ierma L- «*bil 
