Aboriginal Australians -- Government relations; Dunk Island (Qld.); Natural history -- Australia -- Queensland
Calophyllum is justified by reference to the “Prefatory and Other Notes”
to the late F. M. Bailey's great work, the “Comprehensive Catalogue of
Queensland Plants,” where is to be found these encouraging words: “When
any particular plant is said to furnish a useful fruit, it must not be
imagined that the fruit equals the apple, pear, or peach of the present
day, but all so marked are superior to the fruits known to our far-back
forefathers.”
Two eucalypts--bloodwood and Moreton Bay ash (CORYMBOSA and TESSELLARIS
respectively)--and two acacias are represented, the former developing
into great trees of economic value, the latter being comparatively
short-lived and ornamental. The young shoots of Acacia flavescens are
covered as with golden fleece, and its globular flowers are pale yellow.
The wood resembles in tint and texture its ally, the raspberry-jam wood
of Western Australia, though lacking its significant and remarkable
aroma. ACACIA AULACOCARPA displays in pendant masses golden tassels rich
in fragrance.
The yellow-flowered hibiscus (cotton-tree) overhangs the tide, and the
small-leaved shrub the blacks name Tee-bee (WIKSTRAEMIA INDICA), the
pink, semi-transparent fruit of which is eaten in times of stress,
springs from pure sand.
A tall, almost branchless shrub (MACARANGA TANARIUS), the Toogantoogan
of the natives, grows in close clumps conducive to the production of
light, straight, slim stems used as fish-spears. The bark peels readily
in long strands, easily convertible into lines, and the sap from incised
stems, which crystallises with a reddish tint, is a fast cement. Huge
platter-shaped leaves are supported on long stalks from nearly the
centre, whence radiate prominent nerves of pale green. Some plants
exhibit leaf-stalks of ruby red, with central leaf-spot and nerves like
in hue, producing the most beautiful effect. If the growth of the plant
could be kept within bounds it would be gladly admitted as a garden
shrub. The stems and the base of the leaf-stalk are coated with,
glaucous bloom, like that of a ripe plum. The bloom, easily to be rubbed
off, is said to derive its title from that Glaucus who took part in the
Trojan War and had the simplicity, or the wisdom, to exchange his suit
of golden armour for one of iron.
The length of the beach thus casually examined is not more than a
quarter of a mile long, and no plant mentioned is more than a few yards
from high-water mark, the soil being almost pure sand. Imagine some
three square miles of country varied by hills and flats of rich soil,
with creeks and ravines, precipices and bluffs, dense jungle and thick
forest, hollows wherein water lodges in the wet season, and granite
ridges, and then endeavour to comprehend the botany of one small island
of the tropical coast!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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