Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

by Edward Ellis Morris

Top-knot P.—
<i>Lopholaimus antarcticus</i>, Shaw.

White-bellied Plumed P.—
<i>Lophophaps leucogaster</i>, Gould.

Wonga-wonga P. (q.v.)—
<i>Leucosarcia picata</i>, Lath.

See also <i>Fruit-Pigeon</i>, <i>Harlequin Pigeon</i>, <i>Partridge-Pigeon</i>, <i>Torres Straits Pigeon</i>.

For New Zealand Pigeon, see <i>Kuku</i>.

<hw>Pigeon-berry Tree</hw>, <i>n</i>. i.q. <i>Native Mulberry</i>. See <i>Mulberry</i>.

<hw>Pig-face</hw>, <hw>Pig-faces</hw>, and <hw>Pig's-face</i>, or <i>Pig's-faces</i>. Names given to an indigenous "iceplant," <i>Mesembryanthemum aequilaterale</i>, Haw., <i>N.O. Ficoideae</i>, deriving its generic name from the habit of expanding its flower about noon.

1834. Ross, `Van Diemen's Land Annual,' p. 133:

"<i>Mesembryanthemum aequilaterale</i>, pig faces; called by the aborigines by the more elegant name of canagong. The pulp of the almost shapeless, but somewhat ob-conical, fleshy seed vessel of this plant, is sweetish and saline; it is about an inch and a half long, of a yellowish, reddish, or green colour."

1844. Mrs. Meredith, `Notes and Sketches of New South Wales,' p. 45: