Part 241 (2/2)

<hw>Spinach, New Zealand</hw>, n Tetragonia expansa, Murr, NO Ficoideae; called also Iceplant, in Tasold, and was discovered in New Zealand by Captain Cook, though it is also found in japan and South America Its top leaves are eaten as spinach, and Cook introduced it to England, where it is also known as Summer Spinach

<hw>Spine-bill</hw>, n an Australian ”Honey-eater,”

but not now so classed There are two species--

The Slender Spine-bill-- Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, Gould; inhabiting Australia and Tasmania, and called Cobbler's Awl in the latter colony

White-eyebrowed S-- A superciliosus, Gould; of Western Australia

Though related to the genus Myzomela, the pattern of their colouration differs widely

1848 J Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol iv pl 61:

”Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris Slender-billed Spine-bill Cobbler's Awl, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land”

Ibid pl 62:

”Acanthorhynchus superciliosus, Gould White-eyebrowed Spine-bill”

<hw>Spinetail</hw>, n an Australian bird, Orthonyx spinicauda; called also Pheasant's Mother (qv), Log-runner (qv) The name is used elsewhere for different birds See Orthonyx

<hw>Spinifex</hw>, n a grass known in India, China, and the Pacific, but especially common on Australasian shores The word , but it is not classical Latin ”The aggregated flowers for detached atthe sand, propelled by their elastic spines and dropping their seeds as they roll” (Mueller) This peculiarity gains for the Hairy Spinifex (Spinifex hirsutus, Labill) the additional na Grass See also quotation, 1877 This chief species (S hirsutus) is present on the shores of nearly all Australasia, and has various synonyms--S sericeus, Raoul; S inermis, Banks and Sol; Ixaluilis, RB, etc It is a ”coarse, raid, spinous, silky or woolly, perennial grass, with habitats near the sea on sandhills, or saline soils more inland” (Buchanan)

The Desert Spinifex of the early explorers, and of many subsequent writers, is not a true Spinifex, but a Fescue; it is properly called Porcupine Grass (qv), and is a species of Triodia The quotations, 1846, 1887, 1890, and 1893, involve this error

1846 J L Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol ii

c vi p 209:

”In the valley was a little sandy soil, nourishi+ng the Spinifex”

1877 Baron von Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p 125:

”The Desert Spinifex of our colonists is a Fescue, but a true Spinifex occupies our sand-shores;the heads are so buoyant as to float lightly on the water, and while their uppermost spiny rays act as sails, they are carried across narrow inlets, to continue the process of e”

1887 J Bonwick, `Rorasses are sadly conspicuous by their absence, saline plants, so nutritious for stock, occur amidst the real deserts of Spinifex”

1890 C Lu Cannibals,' p 43:

”On the broad sandy heightsthe so-called spinifex is found in great abundance This grass (Triodia irritans) is the traveller's torment, and makes the plains, which it sometimes covers for hundreds of miles, almost impassable Its blades, which have points as sharp as needles, often prick the horses' legs till they bleed”

1893 A F Calvert, `English Illustrated Magazine,' Feb, p 325:

”They evidently preferred that kind of watercress to the leaves of the horrid, prickly Spinifex, so omnipresent in the north-western district”

1896 R Tate, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,'

Botany, p 119:

”A species of Triodia (`porcupine grass,' or incorrectly `spinifex' of explorers and residents) doround and the sterile slopes and tops of the sandstone table-lands”