Alpar is a low, sticky desert herb with a citrus-like scent, also called rat-tail, goosefoot or green crumbleweed (Dysphania kalpari). It grows well in mulga country across Utopia, and its flower spikes resemble a rat’s tail, followed by tiny shiny black seeds.

Because the plant is sticky, the seeds hold on until late in the season, when most other bush seeds are gone, making Alpar a precious late food. Amy paints the story as it was practised by the women of her Country: collecting the seeds, soaking them or cooking them in hot coals, then grinding them into flour for damper. In her paintings, the dots represent the dry Alpar seeds, ready to be gathered.

Alpar is also a bush medicine. Its leaves and seeds are used as a wash, mixed with fat as an ointment, or boiled into an antiseptic.