Austral English Part 99

Warbling Gra.s.s-P.-- Gould's name for Budgerigar (q.v.).

See also Rock-Parrakeet (Euphema petrophila, Gould), which is sometimes cla.s.sed as a Gra.s.s-Parrakeet.

Gra.s.s-tree, n. (2) The name applied to trees of the genus Xanthorrhoea, N.O. Liliaceae, of which thirteen species are known in Australia. See also Richea.

(2) In New Zealand Pseudopanax cra.s.sifolium, Seemann, N.O. Araleaceae. When young, this is the same as Umbrella-tree, so called from its appearance like the ribs of an umbrella. When older, it grows more straight and is called Lancewood (q.v.).

(3) In Tasmania, besides two species of Xanthorrhoea the Gra.s.s-tree of the mainland, the Richea dracophylla, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae, found on Mount Wellington, near Hobart, is also known by that name, whilst the Richea pandanifolia, Hook., found in the South-west forests, is called the Giant Gra.s.s-tree. Both these are peculiar to the island.

(4) An obsolete name for Cordyline australis, Hook., N.O. Liliaceae, now more usually called Cabbage- tree (q.v.).

1802. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,'

vol. ii. p. 153:

"A gra.s.s tree grows here, similar in every respect to that about Port Jackson."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 347:

"Yielding frequently a very weak and sour kind of gra.s.s, interspersed with a species of bulrush called gra.s.s-trees, which are universal signs of poverty.":

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' Vol II. c. iii. p. 54:

"The gra.s.s-tree is not found westward of the mountains."

1839. T. L. Mitch.e.l.l, `Three Expeditions,' vol. ii. p. 303:

"We approached a range of barren hills of clay slate, on which grew the gra.s.s-tree (Xanthorhoea) and stunted eucalypti."

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 74:

"The s.h.i.+mmering sunlight fell and kissed The gra.s.s-tree's golden sheaves."

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 132:

"Here and there, in moist places, arises isolated the `gra.s.s-tree' or `cabbage-tree' (Ti of the natives; Cordyline Australis)."

1874. Garnet Walch, `Head over Heels,' p. 80:

"The gra.s.s-trees in front, blame my eyes, Seemed like plumes on the top of a hea.r.s.e."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 119:

"How strikingly different the external features of plants may be, though floral structure may draw them into congruity, is well demonstrated by our so-called gra.s.s-trees, which pertain truly to the liliaceous order. These scientifically defined as Xanthorhoeas from the exudation of yellowish sap, which indurates into resinous ma.s.ses, have all the essential notes of the order, so far as structure of flowers and fruits is concerned, but their palm-like habit, together with cylindric spikes on long and simple stalks, is quite peculiar, and impresses on landscapes, when these plants in ma.s.ses are occuring, a singular feature."

1879. A. R. Wallace, `Australasia' (ed. 1893), p. 52:

"The gra.s.s trees (Xanthorrhoea) are a peculiar feature to the Australian landscape. From a rugged stem, varying from two to ten or twelve feet in height, springs a tuft of drooping wiry foliage, from the centre of which rises a spike not unlike a huge bulrush. When it flowers in winter, this spike becomes covered with white stars, and a heath covered with gra.s.s trees then has an appearance at once singular and beautiful."

1882. A. Tolmer, `Reminiscences,' vol, ii. p. 102:

"The root of the gra.s.s-tree is pleasant enough to eat, and tastes something like the meat of the almond-tree; but being unaccustomed to the kind of fare, and probably owing to the empty state of our stomachs, we suffered severely from diarrhoea."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 43:

"Gra.s.s-trees are most comical-looking objects. They have a black bare stem, from one to eight feet high, surmounted by a tuft of half rushes and half gra.s.s, out of which, again, grows a long thing exactly like a huge bullrush. A lot of them always grow together, and a little way off they are not unlike the ill.u.s.trations of Red-Indian chiefs in Fenimore Cooper's novels."

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 59:

"It [Pseudopanax cra.s.sifolium, the Horoeka] is commonly called lance-wood by the settlers in the North Island, and gra.s.s-tree by those in the South. This species was discovered during Cook's first voyage, and it need cause no surprise to learn that the remarkable difference between the young and mature states led so able a botanist as Dr. Solander to consider them distinct plants."

1896. Baldwin Spencer. `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, p. 98:

"As soon as the came upon the Plains we found ourselves in a belt of gra.s.s trees belonging to a species not hitherto described (X. Thorntoni)... . The larger specimens have a stem some five or six feet high, with a crown of long wiry leaves and a flowering stalk, the top of which is fully twelve feet above the ground."

[Compare Blackboy and Maori-head.

Grayling, n. The Australian fish of that name is Prototroctes maroena, Gunth. It is called also the Fresh-water Herring, Yarra Herring (in Melbourne), Cuc.u.mber-Fish, and Cuc.u.mber-Mullet.

The last two names are given to it from its smell. It closely resembles the English Grayling.

1880. W. Senior, `Travel and Trout,' p. 93:

"These must be the long-looked-for cuc.u.mber mullet, or fresh- water herring... . `The cuc.u.mber mullet,' I explain, `I have long suspected to be a grayling.'"

1882. Rev._I. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,'

p. 109:

"Though not a fish of New South Wales, it may be as well to mention here the Australian grayling, which in character, habits, and the manner of its capture is almost identical with the English fish of that name. In shape there is some difference between the two fish... . A newly caught fish smells exactly like a dish of fresh-sliced cuc.u.mber. It is widely distributed in Victoria, and very abundant in all the fresh-water streams of Tasmania... . In Melbourne it goes by the name of the Yarra herring. There is another species in New Zealand."

1889. Ca.s.sell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 206:

"The river abounds in delicious grayling or cuc.u.mber fish, rather absurdly designated the `herring' in this [Deloraine]

and some other parts of the colony [Tasmania]."

Grebe, n. common English bird-name, of the genus Podiceps. The species known in Australia are--

Black-throated Grebe-- Podiceps novae-hollandiae, Gould.

h.o.a.ry-headed G.-- P. nestor, Gould.

Tippet G.-- P. cristataes, Linn.

But Buller sees no reason for separating P. cristatus from the well-known P. cristatus of Europe. Some of the Grebes are sometimes called Dabchicks (q.v.).

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 285:

"The Crested Grebe is generally-speaking a rare bird in both islands."

Greenhide, n. See quotation. Greenhide is an English tannery term for the hide with the hair on before scouring.