Page:A primer of forestry, with illustrations of the principal forest trees of Western Australia.djvu/103

97 may be used also as a food for livestock. In the early days of settlement zamia meal was sometimes used as a substitute for tapioca. The plant also yields a wool suitable for stuffing pillows, mattresses, and the like.



Zamia Palm.

Sandalwood.—The timber of this tree has been already described, and the uses to which it is put in China have been mentioned. What we are now concerned with is a peculiarity of its growth. The sandal tree is of the kind called "parasitic" by botanists. It is never found in large masses, like most other trees, but only singly or in small groups intermingled with other trees, generally eucalypts, acacias, or oaks. It will not thrive unless in close proximity to these trees, which are known as its "hosts." The reason for this is that the roots of the sandalwood become attached to the roots of other species by a peculiar type of sucker, through which the sandalwood absorbs certain food materials from the roots of the host plant.