119 
Because ol Bentliam’s misleading, or rather wrong statement, it is a fact that 
some botanists have excluded all small-fruited specimens of Casuarinas with more 
than S teeth in the whorl from C. Cunninghamiana , whereas they are the true 
C. Cunninghamiana. 
It is one of the best marked species, being very uniform in appearance and 
habitat over enormous areas, and therefore Bentham’s statement that it is possibly a 
variety of C. equisetifolia or C. suberosa (the latter being a very different tree) is 
unfortunate. 
Botanical Name.- Casuarina, see p. 79, Part XIII. Cunninghamiana , in 
honour of Allan Cunningham, King’s Botanist, and formerly Superintendent of the 
Botanic Gardens, Sydney. 
Vernacular Xames.— £< River or White Oak.” This is the commonest tree 
on the banks of most of our fresh-water rivers, and therefore the name “ River Oak ” 
is specially appropriate. C. glauca , dealt with in the last Part, is the River Oak 
found on the margins of tidal rivers. 
Aboriginal Kames. —“ Billagin ” of the aborigines of the Camden district, 
according to the late Sir William Macarthur. 
Leaves (Branclllets). —This is a tree whose branches were felled in 
enormous quantities for stock-feeding during the late drought. In many districts 
the mortality amongst sheep and cattle would have been far greater than it was had 
it not been for this valuable tree. 
Mr. P. B. Guthrie, in the Agricultural Gazette for October, 1899, gives an 
analysis illustrating its fodder value. 
Water. 
Ash. 
Fibre. 
Ether 
Extract 
(oil, &c.) 
Albu- 
menoids. 
Carbo¬ 
hydrates. 
Nutrient 
value. 
Albumenoid 
ratio. 
Tannin 
(Oak bark). 
River Oak 
42-27 
2 96 
20-90 
1-66 
6-81 
25-40 
36 
1 : 4 * 
1-7 
Fruits. —This species is the smallest fruited of all the New South Wales 
She-Oaks. 
Timber.— Sap-wood white. Wood red (not deep), with a purplish cast. 
It dries to a brownish-purple. Some of it has a handsome figure. It is used for 
bullock-yokes (District Forester Stop ford, Armidale), shingles, and staves. This and 
other Casuarinas burn well, and their ashes retain the heat for a long while. I look 
upon it as a valuable timber, and it can be obtained of lar^e size. M ood strong 
O ^5 5 
