Austral English Part 95

Gooseberry-tree, Little, n. name given to the Australian tree Buchanania mangoides, F. v. M., N.O.

Anacardiaceae.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition, p. 479:

"My companions had, for several days past, gathered the unripe fruits of Coniogeton arborescens, R. Br., which, when boiled, imparted an agreeable acidity to the water... . When ripe, they became sweet and pulpy, like gooseberries... .

This resemblance induced us to call the tree `the little gooseberry-tree.' "

Gordon Lily, n. See under Lily.

Gouty-stem, n. the Australian Baobab-tree (q.v.), Adansonia gregori, F. v. M.

According to Maiden (p. 60), Sterculia rupestris, Benth., is also called Gouty-stem, on account of the extraordinary shape of the trunk. Other names of this tree are the Sour-gourd, and the Cream-of-tartar tree.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. II. c. iii.

p. 115:

"The gouty-stem tree ... bears a very fragrant white flower, not unlike the jasmine." [Ill.u.s.tration given at p. 116.]

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 2S9 [Note]:

"This tree is distinguished by the extraordinary swollen appearance of the stem, which looks as though the tree were diseased or the result of a freak of nature. The youngest as well as the oldest trees have the same deformed appearance, and inside the bark is a soft juicy pulp instead of wood, which is said to be serviceable as an article of food. The stem of the largest tree at Careening Bay was twenty-nine feet in girth; it is named the Adansonia digitata. A species is found in Africa. In Australia it occurs only on the north coast."

Government, n. a not unusual contraction of "Government service," used by contractors and working men.

Government men, n. an obsolete euphemistic name for convicts, especially for a.s.signed servants (q.v.).

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 122:

"Three government men or convicts."

1852. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 127:

"Government men, as a.s.signed servants were called."

Government stroke, n. a lazy style of doing work, explained in quotations. The phrase is not dead.

1856. W. W. Dobie, `Recollections of a Visit to Port Phillip,'

p. 47:

"Government labourers, at ten shillings a-day, were breaking stones with what is called `the Government stroke,' which is a slow-going, anti-sweating kind of motion... ."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. ix. [near end] p. 163:

"In colonial parlance the government stroke is that light and easy mode of labour--perhaps that semblance of labour--which no other master will endure, though government is forced to put up with it."

1893. `Otago Witness,' December 2r, p. 9, col. 1:

"The government stroke is good enough for this kind of job."

1897. `The Argus,' Feb. 22, p. 4, col. 9:

"Like the poor the unemployed are always with us, but they have a penchant for public works in Melbourne, with a good daily pay and the `Government stroke' combined."

Grab-all, n. a kind of net used for marine fishing near the sh.o.r.e. It is moored to a piece of floating wood, and by the Tasmanian Government regulations must have a mesh of 2 1/4 inches.

1883. Edward O. Cotton, `Evidence before Royal Commission on the Fisheries of Tasmania,' p. 82:

"Put a graball down where you will in `bell-rope' kelp, more silver trumpeter will get in than any other fish."

1883. Ibid. p. xvii:

"Between sunrise and sunset, nets, known as `grab.a.l.l.s,' may be used."

Grammatoph.o.r.e, n. scientific name for "an Australian agamoid lizard, genus Grammatophora."

(`Standard.')

Grape, Gippsland, n. called also Native Grape. An Australian fruit tree, Vitis hypoglauca, F. v. M., N.O. Viniferae; called Gippsland Grape in Victoria.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 66:

"Native grape; Gippsland grape. This evergreen climber yields black edible fruits of the size of cherries. This grape would perhaps be greatly improved by culture. (Mueller.)"

Grape, Macquarie Harbour, or Macquarie Harbour Vine (q.v.), n. name given to the climbing shrub Muehlenbeckia adpressra, Meissn. N.O. Polygonaceae.

Called Native Ivy in Australia. See under Ivy.

Grape-eater, n. a bird, called formerly Fig-eater, now known as the Green-backed White-eye (q.v.), Zosterops gouldi, Bp.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 82:

"Zosterops chloronotus, Gould, Green-backed Z.; Grape and Fig-eater, Colonists of Swan River."

Gra.s.s, n. In Australia, as elsewhere, the name Gra.s.s is sometimes given to plants which are not of the natural order Gramineae, yet everywhere it is chiefly to this natural order that the name is applied. A fair proportion of the true Gra.s.ses common to many other countries in the world, or confined, on the one hand to temperate zones, or on the other to tropical or sub-tropical regions, are also indigenous to Australia, or Tasmania, or New Zealand, or sometimes to all three countries. In most cases such gra.s.ses retain their Old World names, as, for instance, Barnyard- or c.o.c.k-spur Gra.s.s (Panic.u.m crus-galli, Linn.); in others they receive new Australian names, as Ditch Millet (Paspalum scrobitulatum, F. v. M.), the `Koda Millet' of India; and still again certain gra.s.ses named in Latin by scientific botanists have been distinguished by a vernacular English name for the first time in Australia, as Kangaroo Gra.s.s (Anhistiria ciliata, Linn.), which was "long known before Australia became colonized, in South Asia and all Africa" (von Muller), but not by the name of the Kangaroo.

Beyond these considerations, the settlers of Australia, whose wealth depends chiefly on its pastoral occupation, have introduced many of the best Old-World pasture gra.s.ses (chiefly of the genera Poa and Festuca), and many thousands of acres are said to be "laid down with English gra.s.s." Some of these are now so wide-spread in their acclimatization, that the botanists are at variance as to whether they are indigenous to Australia or not; the Couch Gra.s.s, for instance (Cynodon dactylon, Pers.), or Indian Doub Gra.s.s, is generally considered to be an introduced gra.s.s, yet Maiden regards it as indigenous.

There remain, "from the vast a.s.semblage of our gra.s.ses, even some hundred indigenous to Australia" (von Muller), and a like number indigenous to New Zealand, the greater proportion of which are endemic. Many of these, accurately named in Latin and described by the botanists, have not yet found their vernacular equivalents; for the bushman and the settler do not draw fine botanical distinctions. Maiden has cla.s.sified and fully described 158 species as "Forage Plants," of which over ninety have never been christened in English. Mr. John Buchanan, the botanist and draughtsman to the Geographical Survey of New Zealand, has prepared for his Government a `Manual of the Indigenous Gra.s.ses of New Zealand,' which enumerates eighty species, many of them unnamed in English, and many of them common also to Australia and Tasmania. These two descriptive works, with the a.s.sistance of Guilfoyle's Botany and Travellers' notes, have been made the basis of the following list of all the common Australian names applied to the true Gra.s.ses of the N.O. Gramineae. Some of them of very special Australian character appear also elsewhere in the Dictionary in their alphabetical places, while a few other plants, which are gra.s.ses by name and not by nature, stand in such alphabetical place alone, and not in this list.

For facility of comparison and reference the range and habitat of each species is indicated in brackets after its name; the more minute limitation of such ranges is not within the scope of this work. The species of Gra.s.s present in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand are--

1. Alpine Rice Gra.s.s-- Ehrharta colensoi, Cook. (N.Z.)

2. Alpine Whorl G.-- Catabrosa antarctica, Hook. f. (N.Z.)

3. Bamboo G.-- Glyceria ramigera, F. v. M. (A.) Called also Cane Gra.s.s.

Stipa verticillata, Nees.(A.)

4. Barcoo G. (of Queensland)-- Anthistiria membranacea, Lindl. (A.) Called also Landsborough Gra.s.s.

5. Barnyard G.-- Panic.u.m crus-galli, Linn. (A., not endemic.) Called also c.o.c.kspur Gra.s.s.

6. Bayonet G.-- Aciphylla colensoi.(N.Z.) Called also Spear-Gra.s.s (see 112), and Spaniard (q.v.).