<hw>Alexandra Palm</hw>, <i>n</i>. a Queensland tree, <i>Ptychosperma alexandrae</i>, F. v. M. A beautifully marked wood much used for making walking sticks. It grows 70 or 80 feet high.
<hw>Alluvial</hw>, <i>n</i>. the common term in Australia and New Zealand for gold-bearing alluvial soil. The word is also used adjectivally as in England.
1889. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 403:
"The whole of the alluvial will be taken up, and the Terrible
Hollow will re-echo with the sound of pick and shovel."
<hw>Ambrite</hw> (generally called <B>ambrit</B>), <i>n</i>. Mineral [from amber + ite, mineral formative, `O.E.D.'], a fossil resin found in masses amidst lignite coals in various parts of New Zealand. Some identify it with the resin of <i>Dammara australis</i>, generally called <i>Kauri gum</i> (q.v.).
1867. F. von Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 79:
"Although originating probably from a coniferous tree related to the Kauri pine, it nevertheless has been erroneously taken for Kauri gum."—[Footnote]: "It is sufficiently characterised to deserve a special name ; but it comes so near to real <i>amber</i> that it deserves the name of <i>Ambrite</i>."
[This is the earliest use of the word.]
<hw>Anabranch</hw>, <i>n</i>. a branch of a river which leaves it and enters it again. The word is not Australian, though it is generally so reckoned. It is not given in the `Century,' nor in the `Imperial,' nor in `Webster,' nor in the `Standard.' The `O.E.D.' treats <i>Ana</i> as an independent word, rightly explaining it as <i>anastomosing</i>, but its quotation from the `Athenaeum' (1871), on which it relies,is a misprint. For the origin and coinage of the word, see quotation 1834. See the aboriginal name <i>Billabong</i>.
1834. Col.Jackson, `Journal of Royal Geographical Society,' p. 79: