- a l i l i
Æ
There .s, tewever, one draw-back to the valne of the Tnssoek ; it is a perennial grass, of slow growth, and
some drsappomtment has already been experienced in England from this cause. Each Tussock consists of many
hmidrcds of culms, springing together from a mass of roots, which have rcqidred a long series of years to attain their
great and productive size. Our cidtivatcd specimens in the Eoyal Gardens of Kcw. now nearly tin-cc years old,
are m a feir way of becoming good Tussocks ; for the quantity of stems from each root, the produce of one seed’
IS mealonlably more than any other grass throws np, and these are ah-eady forming a ball of root-fibres whieh i.!
time wdl form a mound; but this baE, now scarcely six inches across and not two in height, must have »rown
to SIX or eight feet high, with a ihametcr of three or fom- feet ; instead of forty culms there must be four hundred ■
and he leavc^ now three feet long, must attain seven; ere the Tnssoek of England can compete with its
paient m the Falklands. Though, however, the stoles (if I may so c-Ul the matted roots of this grass) in
he most vigorous native specimens attain a height ot seven feet, it is certain that they are vci-v productive before
they have reached two or three. By the time the leaves have gained their greah size, the basés of the culms are
nea, y as broad as the thumb, and when pulled out young, they yield an inch or two of a soft, white, and sweet
substance, ofthe flavom of a nut, and so nutritions, that two American sealers, who deserted a vessel in an nnfrc-
quented part of the laUdands, subsisted on little else for fourteen months.
Again, the Tussock-grass field, when fufiy established, must not be grazed indisoriminately by cattle. These
creatures and the pigs have already diminished its abundance in the Falklands ; for, after dcvom-ing the foliage
they eat down the stumps of the cidms, greedily following them into the heart of the mass of roots from which
ley spring, for the sake of the white core just described; the rain-water lodges in the cavity thus formed, aud
decay so surely follows, that I have seen nearly half a müe of Tussock-grass plants entirely destroyed by n o ’other
means. ‘ ^
■Uthough in tee Falklands this plant wiE grow on pm-e sand near the sea, and there reach as gi-eat a size as
on any other soE, it is not likely to do so in the drier climate of Britain, where the absence of an equaEy humid
atmosphere must be artificially remedied. A wet, light, peaty soE has iu England been found to favom its growth -
sea-wccd manme might probably be added ivith advantage, and certainly guano. Slow its progress assuredlv is’
but 1 may be hastened by such stimiEants. In the mean time the cultivator has no just cause for compkint -
the plant IS already increasmg imnsuaEy at the base, and theace sending up many more culms than other grasses’
though, springing from one smaE base, they do not make such a show, but form a compact mass of livinv rooté
which III the case of other Gramineæ would spread over ten times the area that this occupies, and they a^iually
mercase in vigour and productiveness. And, lastly, it must be borne in mind that the farmer here obtains
an enormous crop from a very- smaU surface. Each great Tnssoek is the produce of one seed aud is an isolated
indmdual plant, which, though standing upon perhaps only two square yards of ground, yields annuaUv a produce
equal to that of a much greater surface of land, if cropped with hay or elovcr. The number of seeds'required to
stock an acre m Tussock and one m grass is in the proportion of tens to thousands ; and wc may be weE content
to know that the number of months required to ensure a profitable return is not in the same ratio.
There are few plants which from perfect obscurity have become objects of such interest as this grass. The
ussock in Its native state seems of almost uo service in the animal economy. A little insect, and only one that
I observed, depends on it for sustenance; and a bird, no bigger than the sparrow, robs it of its seeds; a few sea-
fowl bmid amongst the shelter of its leaves , penguins and petrel seek hiding-places amongst the roots, because they
are soft and easily penetrated, and Sea-Uons cower beneath its luxuriant fohage: stEl, except the insect, I know
no ammal or p ant whose extinction could follow the absence of this, the largest vegetable production in tl.c
I alklands, which docs not even support a parasitical fungus. These same sea-birds breed and burrow where no
russock grows; rocks elsewhere suit the Sea-Mou’s habits equaUy weE; and the sparrow, which subsists on other
tood eleven months of the year, could surely make shift without this for a twelfth. Certain it is, that the Tussock
might yet be unknown and unprized amongst plants, if cattle had not been introduced to its locality by man -
F LO EA ANTAECTICA. 387
who thus became, first the injm-er, and then the protector and propagator of the existence of this noble grass ; for tlie
herbivorous quadrupeds which he carried to the Falklands and left there, were surely extirpating the Tussock, when
man returned, and, by protecting, perpetuating, and transpoi-ting it to other countries, he has widely dispersed it.
I t appears singular that so strikbig a grass shoidd abound where there is no native herbivorous animal to profit by
its luxuriance ; but it is no less certain that had not civilization interfered, the Tussock might have waved its green
leaves undistm-bed over the waters of the stormy Antarctic Ocean, for ever perhaps, or imtE some fish, fowl, or
seal, should be so far tempted by the luxuriance of the foUage as to transgress the laws of nature, and to adapt its
organs to the digestion and enjoyment of this long-neglected gift of a bounteous Providence.
I t must appear strange to all who know grasses only in the pastures ot England, that the patches of Tussock
resemble nothing so mnch as groves of smaU low Palm-trees ! This simüarity arises from the matted roots of the
individual plants springing in eyUndrieal masses, always separated down to the very base, and throwing out a waving
head of foliage from each summit. Bogs and damp woods in Britain very ti-eqnently produce a Sedge (Carex
pankulata), whose mode of growth is, on a smaU scale, identical with that of the Tussock-Grass, and to which the
name of Tussock is appUed. I have seen them two to three feet above the ground, in South Wales ; and if they
were higher, lai-ger, and placed closer together, the general resemblance would be complete. The effect in walking
through a large Tnssoek grove is very singidar. from the uniformity in height of these masses, and the narrow
spaceé left between them, which form an effectual labyrinth ; leaves and sky are all that can be seen overhead,
and their cnrious boles of roots and decayed vegetable matter ou both sides, before and beliiiid ; except now and
then, where a penguin peeps forth from his hole, or the traveller stumbles over a huge Sea-lion, stretched along the
ground, blocking up bis path.
P late CXXXVL—CXXXVII. Pig. I, locusta -, fig. 2, floret -, fig, 3. squamnlæ, stamens, and pistil ; fig. 4, squamula
; f ig. i , poEen ; fig. 6, caryopsis ;—aE magnified.
15. CATABEOSA,
1. C atabrosa Magellanica, Hook, fil.; glaberrima, panicula elongata laxe ramosa, ramis apice floriferis
elongatis, glumis inæqualibus apice erosis 4-6-floris superiore majore 3-nervi, palea inferiore ovato-oblonga
obtusa 5 -nervi glaberrima vix costata, culmo erecto foliorum vaginis tecto, foborum lamina involuta vagina
breviore.
H a b. Strait of Magalliaens ; P o rt Famine, Caffi. King.
Oramai pedale, erectum. glaberrimum. Calmi basi prostrati, cflvisi. Poïimum vagina latiuscula, 3-5 une.
longa, striata, hians ; Ugida maia, acuta; lamina 2-3-uncialis, anguste lineari-subulata, superne scaberula, marginibus
involutis. Panicula 6-7 une. longa, erecta ; ramis gracibbus verticiUatis v. fastigiatis, inferioribus -1 unc.
longis, filiformibus, glaberrimis, flexuosis, apices versus divisis ct floriferis. iocMÎæ | nnc. longm, sub 4-floræ.
Gluma inferior lanceolata, acuta v. truncato-erosa ; superiore oblongo-lanceolata 3-nervi obtnsa erosa i breviore.
Ploscidi basi dissiti, glaberrimi, oylindi-acci. Palea inferior oblongo-ovata, obtusa, sub-erosa, obscm-e 6-nervis,
ecostata, marginibus subcibatis, superior brevior, apice bidentata. Antheræ parvæ, late oblongæ.
Quite a distmct species, and diffei-mg from the typical plants of the genns iu having many florets contained in
eacli locusta.
16. BROMUS, L .
1. B romuspictus, H o ok .fil.; strictus, erectus, simplex, puberulus, panicula simplici, locustis sub 4*
magnis pedunculis longioribus, glumis lineari-oblongis subacutis medio nervosis ñosculisque purpuxeo-pictis