GOUTY-STEM TREE.
Among the most curious vegetable productions along its banks are the silk cotton-tree and the gouty-stem tree. The latter has been already mentioned by Captains King and Grey, and here attains a great size: it bears a very fragrant white flower, not unlike the jasmine; the fruit is used by the natives, and found to be a very nutritious article of food, something similar to a coconut. Not having previously noticed it in this neighbourhood I conclude this to be the northern limit of its growth. The reader will remember my having before alluded to seeing it near the mouth of Fitzroy River, where I have also mentioned the extent of coast on which we found it, and given the limits of its indigenous empire, extending not quite over two degrees of latitude. The peculiar character of the tree I leave the reader to learn from the woodcuts annexed.
GOUTY-STEM TREE.
ITS FRUIT.
That containing the fruit* is from a specimen obtained near the Fitzroy, as it was in flower when I saw it in the month of November on the banks of the Victoria.
FRUIT OF GOUTY-STEM TREE.