Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/318

286 Long before the Falkland Islands were colonized from Britain, the present plant had excited considerable curiosity by the very remarkable mode of growth it there assumes and its forming a feature in the landscape that strikes the most casual observer. Now that these islands have been annexed formally to the British dominions, the Bolax or Balsam-bog is a production of still greater general interest. In whatever portion of this country the voyager may land, he cannot proceed far along the beach without entering groves of Tussac, whose leaves often wave over his head ; nor turn his steps inland without seeing, scattered over the ground, huge, perfectly hemispherical hillocks of a pale and dirty yellow green colour and uniform surface, so hard that one may break the knuckles on them. If the day be warm, a faint aromatic smell is perceived in their neighbourhood and drops or tears of a viscid white gum flow from various parts of these vegetable hillocks. They stand apart from one another, varying from 2-4 feet in height, and though often hemispherical, are, at times, much broader than high, and even eight or ten feet long. The very old ones begin to decay near the ground, where a crumbling away commences all round, and having but a narrow attachment, they resemble immense balls or spheres laid upon the earth. Upon close examination, each mass is found to be herbaceous throughout, the outer coat formed of innumerable little shoots rising to the same height, covered with imbricating leaves, and so densely packed that it is even difficult to cut out a portion with a knife, while the surface is of such uniformity that lichens sometimes spread over it, and other plants vegetate on its surface in the occasional holes or decayed places. If, at a very early period, a young plant of the Bolax be removed and examined, the origin of these great balls may be traced ; for each of them, of whatever size, is the product of a single seed, and the result of many, perhaps hundreds of years' growth. In a young state the plant consists of a very long slender perpendicular root, like a whip-lash, that penetrates the soil. At its summit are borne two or three small, branching stems, each densely covered for its whole length with sheathing leaves. As the individual increases in size, the branches divide more and more, radiating regularly from the rooting centre, instead of prolonging rapidly; these send out lateral short shoots from their apices, and in such numbers that the mass is rendered very dense, and by the time the plant has gained the diameter of a foot, it is quite smooth and convex on the surface. The solitary root has become evidently insufficient for the wants of the mass of individuals, which are nourished by fibrous radicles, proceeding from below the leaves, and deriving nutriment from the quantity of vegetable matter which the decayed foliage of the lower part of the steins and older branches affords.

The B. ghbaria yields a gum, which is white when oozing from the wounded stems and leaves, but soon turns red-brown on drying ; it has been used as an application to cuts and other lesions with apparent effect, and for the cure of Gonorrhoea, with more doubtful success.

From Mr. Webster's account it is abundant in Staten Land, and is, I believe, also found in perfection in Patagonia. In Hermite Island it never assumes the form it docs in the Falklands.

3. HUANACA, Cav.

1. Huanaca Cavcmittesii, DC; caule scnpiformi, foliis omnibus radicalisms longe petiolatis palmatim 7-8-sectis segmentis anguste linearibus acutis integris trifidisve petiolo basi in vaginam ciliatam dilatato, caule seu scapo erecto simplici striato apice umbellain 3-radiatam gerente, foliolis involucralibus tripartitis basi ciliatis, umbelluHs multi-radiatis lateraHbus elongatis diutius florentibus intermedio sessili, floribus pedicellatis, fructu ovato, mericarpiis dorso valde coinpressis concavis lateraliter 3-jugis. H. CavaniHesn, DC. Prodr. vol. iv. p. 81. Point Eneycl. Swppl. vol. iii. p. 68. H. aeaulis, Cavtmilies, Icon. vol. vi. p. 18. t. 528. f. 2. (Enanthe Huanaca, Spreng. XJmhell. Spec. p. 37. et in Poem, et Schultes Sj/st. Veg. vol. vi. p. 428. Spanantlie Huanaca, Lagasca Am. Nat. vol. ii. p. 93.

Hab. Strait of Magalhaens; Cape Gregory, Copt. King.

Radix fusiformis, pro planta majuscula, 3-pollicaris. Folia longe petiolata ; petiolo gracih, erecto, 2-4 unc. longo, basi in vaginam brevem latam ciliatam dilatato; laminae segmentis f-1 unc. longis, sub 1 lin. latis, glaber-