1849.] BOTANY. grow, in the same manner as other terrestrial of adapta- be occasional visitors to the sea-shore : "I shall now take a rapid survey of the vegetation which characterizes what is termed the litoral zone, or that belt of rock or shingle which extends from high-water to low-water mark. Within this space a large proportion of the seaweeds of our latitude is produced; and the remainder, with the exception of a few stragglers that extend into deeper water, occur within the limit of two, or, at most, four fathoms, beyond the lowest water of spring-tides. "Sea-weeds are usually classed by botanists in three great groups, each of which contains several families, which are again divided into genera; and these, in their turn, are composed of one or many species. The number of species as yet detected on the British coasts is about 370, and they are grouped into 105 genera. I cannot, in this place, enter into the niceties of classification to which botanists resort in working out the history of these plants, but must confine myself to the general features of the great groups, and their * "The Sea-Side Book; being an introduction to the Natural History of the British Coasts." No one should visit the sea-side without a copy of this little volume; which will be found an admirable expositor of the nature and habits of the birds, shells, seaweeds, land-plants, zoophytes, and other objects of natural history, commonly met with upon our coasts. Our extracts are necessarily taken from the botanical portion of the book, but the other departments are treated in an equally pleasing style. of distribution. Taken in the order in which they In reference to the general distribution of "Vegetation, at least with its most obvious features, ceases in the south at a much lower parallel than in the Arctic regions, and the shores of the Antarctic lands appear to be perfectly barren, producing not even an Ulva. But the fact of the great adaptability of plants of this family to different climates, is beautifully illustrated by the last land plant collected by the acute naturalist attached to our Antarctic expedition. The last plant that struggles with perpetual winter was gathered at Cockburn Island, 64° S. (a latitude no greater than that of Archangel, where the vine is said to ripen in the open air,) and this proved to be an Ulva (U. crispa,) identical with a small species which may often be seen in this * Van Voorst, 1842. country on old thatch, or on damp walls and rocks, forming extensive patches of small green leaves."-The Sea-side Book, p. 59. Another species belonging to this green series-Codium tomentosum-is equally widely distributed, since it abounds on the shores of the Atlantic, from the north of Europe to the Cape of Good Hope; appears to be equally common in the Pacific, extending along the whole western coast of the American continent; and is also found in the Indian Sea, and on the shores of Australia and New Zealand. It must be borne in mind that these plants have no root, properly so called; that is, the organ by which they are attached to the rocks on which they grow, performs none of the absorbing functions proper to the roots of flowering plants; its chief, if not its sole office, appearing to be that of fixing the plant, the whole surface of which is endowed with the faculty of absorption. So that where the marine Algæ, as is frequently the case, become detached from their moorings and float about in the water, they do not perish so long as they are submerged. The "gulf-weed," for example, which from its great abundance, in the form of patches or fields of vast extent, has always attracted the notice of voyagers across the Atlantic, is an Alga, bearing the name of Sargassum, (the Sargasso of the Spaniards.) That this plant continues to grow and flourish while floating freely in the ocean, unattached to rock or shore by anything in the form of root, must be obvious to all who have examined it; since the limit between the old and young portions of the plant are clearly defined. Some of the marine Algæ attain to a vast size, as will be seen in the following extract from the second edition of Harvey's Manual," now in the press:* shores of the Pacific Ocean. The Nereocystis, a plant of this family inhabiting the north-western shores of America, has a stem no thicker than a whipcord, but upwards of three hundred feet in length, bearing at its apex a huge vehicle, six or seven feet long, shaped like a barrel, and crowned with a tuft of upwards of fifty forked leaves, each from thirty to forty feet in length. The vesicle, being filled with air, buoys up this immense frond, which lies stretched along the surface of the sea; here the sea-otter has his favorite lair, resting himself upon the vesicle, or hiding among the leaves while he pursues his fishing. The chord-like stem which anchors this floating tree must be of considerable strength; and, accordingly, we find it used as a fishing-line by the natives of the coast. But great as is the length of this sea-weed, it is exceeded by the Macrocystis, though the leaves and air-vessels of that plant are of small dimensions. In the Nereocystis the stem is unbranched; in Macrocystis it branches as it approaches the surface, and afterwards divides by repeated forkings, each division bearing a leaf, until there results a floating mass of foliage some hundreds of square yards in superficial extent. It is said that the stem of this plant is sometimes 1,500 feet in length. These are the most lengthy of the family; there are others whose fronds would weigh more. The Lessonia, which inhabit the deeper parts of the Laminarian shores of Chili, have branching trunks of considzone in the latitude of Cape Horn, and along the erable diameter and length, each branch crowned with bunches of long ribbon-like leaves, and the whole plant resembling a submarine arborescent aloe of large size. The Ecklonic, a noble genus with pinnated fronds, may be compared to submarine palm-trees. The best known species, E. buccinalis, the trumpet-weed of South Africa, has a stem often more than twenty feet long, two inches in diameter at the base, where it is solid, gradually widening upwards and becoming hollow, and crowned with a fan-shaped cluster of leaves, each twelve feet long or more. The stem of this plant, when dried, is often used in the colony as a siphon; and by the native herdsmen formed into a trumpet, for collecting the cattle at evening."-Harvey's British Alga, 2nd Edition, p. 27. All the species of British Algae will be elaborate work, "Phycologia Britannica;" beautifully illustrated by Dr. Harvey in his two volumes of which are now completed, and the third is in progress. It will contain a figure and description of every known British species; the figures are exquisitely drawn on the stone by the author himself, and accurately colored; the characters and descriptions are also correctly and clearly given. This work should be in the library of every botanist; and, even as ornamental volumes, they would by no means be out of place upon the drawing-room table, since the brilliant colors and delicate forms of by far the greater number of the Algae render their pictorial representations, even as works of art, especially when executed in the style of those in Dr. Harvey's book, exceedingly ornamental, and must command the admiration of all, whether naturalists or not. to the highest peaks, and were tinged golden yellow, or rosy red, by the rising sun, which touched these elevated points long ere it reached the lower position I occupied. "Such is the aspect of the Himalaya range at early morning. As the sun's rays dart into the many valleys which lie between the snowy Leaving now the ocean and its vegetation, mountains and Darjeeling, the stagnant air conwe will for a while accompany an active and tained in the low recesses becomes quickly enterprising naturalist to a part of the world heated; heavy masses of vapor-dense, white, hitherto comparatively little botanically exand keenly defined, arise from the hollows, meet plored. In less than eighteen months Dr. their summits, enlarge, unite, and ascend rapidly over the crests of the hills, cling to the forests on J. D. Hooker has reached the Himalayan to the rarefied regions above-a phenomenon so range from Calcutta, explored several of its suddenly developed that the consequent withrecesses, discovered a number of new plants, drawal from the spectator's gaze of the stupensent drawings and descriptions to England, dous scenery beyond looks like the work of magic. where his father, Sir W. J. Hooker, as edi-Such is the region of the Indian Rhododendrons." tor, and the Messrs. Reeve, as publishers, have --Preface, p. made known the first result of the doctor's botanical mission, in a series of magnificent folio plates of ten new species of Rhododendron, native to the neighborhood of Darjeeling, in Sikkim-Himalayah mountains; a locality with much justice described by the author, at least, if we may judge from the noble plants here so splendidly figured, as the head-quarters of the genus in the Old World. From the following extracts, our readers will be able to form some idea of the magnificence of the scenery amid which the species depicted were collected. 5. The particular locality of this grand region, where several of the species were met with, is thus more particularly described: ance. * "It was on the ascent of Tonglo, a mountain on the Nepalese frontier, that I beheld the Rhododendrons in all their magnificence and luxuriAt 7,000 feet, where the woods were still dense and sub-tropical, mingling with ferns, Pothos, peppers, and figs, the ground was strewed with the large lily-like flowers of Rhododendron Dalhousiæ, dropping from the epiphytal plants on the enormous oaks overhead, and mixed with the egg-like flowers of a new Magnoliaceous tree, which fall before expanding, and diffuse a powerful aromatic odor, more strong, but far less sweet, than that of the Rhododendron. So conspicuous were these two blossoms, that my rude guide called out- Here are lilies and eggs, sir, growing out of the ground! No bad compariand chesnut, yet still in that of the alder, birch, Passing the region of tree-ferns, walnut large-leaved oak, (whose leaves are often eighteen inches long,) we enter that of the broad-spathed Arum, (which raises a crested head like that of the Cobra de Capel,) the Kadsura, Stauntonia, here much steeper, carried along narrow ridges Convallaria, and many Rosacea. The paths are or over broken masses of rock, which are scaled son. "The mountain Sinchul, upon a spur of which, looking north, Darjeeling stands, attains an elevation of 9,000 feet, and to the west of it, next Nepal, rises another conspicuous mountain, Tonglo, reaching a height of 10,000 feet. Due north of Darjeeling, at a distance of only sixty miles, the horizon is bounded by the great snowy range, having for its principal feature the peak of Kinchin-junga, which has lately been ascertained to be 28,172 feet in elevation, the loftiest mountain yet known in the world. Dr. Hooker thus describes his first impressions of this scene— Much as I had heard and read of the magnificence and beauty of Himalayan scenery, my highest expectations have been surpassed! I arrived at Darjeeling on a rainy, misty day, which did not allow me to see ten yards in any direction, *Two plates are devoted to the illustration of much less to descry the Snowy Range, distant this fine plant; the first represents the entire shrub, sixty miles, in a straight line. Early next morning which has a very straggling habit, is from six to I caught my first view, and I literally held my eight feet high, and always grows upon the trunks breath in awe and admiration. Six or seven suc- of other trees, especially oaks and magnolias. The cessive ranges of forest-clad mountains, as high as author calls it parasitical; but it is more probably that whereon I stood, (8,000 feet,) intervened be- merely an epiphyte, using the trunk as a support, The tween me and a dazzling white pile of snow-clad without deriving any nutriment from it. mountains, among which the giant peak of Kin-head of its noble flowers, each of which is about second plate represents a branch of this tree, with a chin-junga rose 20,000 feet above the lofty point 3 or 4 inches long, and as broad at the mouth; from which I gazed! Owing to the clearness of campanulate, white, with an occasional tinge of the atmosphere, the snow appeared to my fancy rose; in size and color, and general shape, almost but a few miles off, and the loftiest mountain at resembling that of the white Bourbon lily, (Lilium only a day's journey. The heavenward outline candidum,) and very fragrant." This and the other was projected against a pale-blue sky; while lit- species will be splendid additions to our gardens tle detached patches of mist clung here and there and shrubberies. by the aid of interwoven roots of trees. On these | rocks grow Hymenophylla, a few Orchidea, Begonia, Cyrtandacreæ, Aroideæ of curious forms; the anomalous genus Streptolirion of Edgeworth, and various Cryptogamia; and the Rhododendron arboreum is first met with, its branches often loaded with pendulous mosses and lichens, especially Usnea and Borrera. Along the flat ridges, towards the top, the yew appears, with scattered trees of Rhododendron argenteum, succeeded by R. Campbelliæ. At the very summit, the majority of the wood consists of this last species, amongst which, and next in abundance, occurs the R. barbatum, with here and there, especially on the eastern slopes, R. Falconeri. Mixed with these are Pyri, Pruni, maples, barberries, and Azaleas, Olea, Ilex, Limonia, Hydrangea, several Caprifoliacea, Gaultheria, and Andromeda; the apple and the rose are most abundant. Stauntonia, with its glorious racemes of purple flowers, creeps over all; so do Kadsura and Ochna; whilst a currant, with erect racemes, grows epiphytally on Rhododendron and on Pyrus. "The habits of the Rhododendrons differ considerably, and, confined as I was to one favorable spot by a deluge of rain, I had ample time to observe four of them. R. Campbelliæ, the only one in full flower early in May, is the most prevalent, the ropes of my tent spanning an area between three of them. Some were a mass of scarlet blossom, displaying a sylvan scene of the most gorgeous description. Mr. Nightingale's Rhododendron-groves, I thought, may surpass these in form and luxuriance of foliage, or in outline of individual specimens; but for splendor of color those of the Himalaya can only be compared with the Butea frondosa of the plains. Many of their trunks spread from the centre thirty or forty feet every way, and together form a hemispherical mass, often forty yards across, and from twenty to fifty feet in height! The stems and branches of these aged trees, gnarled and rugged, the bark dark colored, and clothed with spongy moss, often bend down and touch the ground; the foliage is, moreover, scanty, dark green, and far from graceful; so that, notwithstanding the gorgeous coloring of the blossoms, the trees, when out of flower, like the fuchsias of Cape Horn, are the gloomy denizens of a most gloomy region." p. 13. But we must leave this elevated region, with its gorgeous floral decorations, and, under the guidance of Dr. Harvey, again re "At Embley, near Romsey, Hants, the seat of William Edward Nightingale, Esq., whose beautiful grounds boast of drives through what may really be called woods or groves of Rhododendrons, many of them self-sown." Miss Nightingale has supplied an interesting account of these fine trees, which were chiefly planted about thirty years ago; one of them is 150 feet in circumference and 20 feet high; several are 97 and 98 feet in circumference. These admeasurements of course refer to the general spread of the branches, not to the stems, one of which is, however, 25 feet high and 19 inches in cir cumference. turn to the more humble, though not less interesting nor less beautiful, denizens of our own shores; which amply corroborate the statement that every district has a Flora of its own. Gladly would we cull, in his company, the plants of the salt-marsh, the muddy shore, or the chalky cliff-the curious horned poppy (Glaucium luteum) with its fugacious yellow petals, the blue-tinted seaeringo, (Eryngium maritimum,) the stocks, and asters, and "sea-lavender that lacks perfume," and the pretty little creeping pink-flowered Glaux maritima, and the purple arenarias-all which abound in such localities; though we must for the present confine our researches to the bleak, barrenlooking sand-downs: but barren as they look, they sometimes yield to the industrious and keen-eyed botanist a far richer harvest than many a more promising locality; as our own well-stored vasculum has often testified. But our guide awaits us and we accompany him. Such is the "Sand-downs, where the herbage is close and thick," says Dr. Harvey, "have often a very gay Flora, composed of a great number of plants. The surface is generally carpeted with white clover, mixed with mosses, chiefly of the genus Tortula, and small, fine-leaved grasses, especially Nardus stricta, and some of the more wiry-leaved Festuca, with here and there the characteristic sand-reed (Ammophila arundinacia.) composition of the green sward which forms the groundwork of the piece. This is gaily ornamented with a profusion of the bright pink stars of centaury, (Erythraa,) several kinds of which are distinguished. These are diminutive gentians, with all the bitterness of foliage and brightness of flower peculiar to that family of plants. Among them may sometimes be seen their more ambitious brother the Chlora, with his golden eight-lobed crown; but this is rarely found except where there is limestone or chalk in the soil. Next we are attracted by different varieties of wild pansies (Viola tricolor and V. lutea,) some of them blue, others yellow, and others a mixture of these colors with creamy white. Then eye-bright, which, though diminutive, often indeed dwindled down to a pair or two of leaves and a pair of flowers, is still worthy both of its English name and the more sounding Greek Euphrasia. Milkwort (Polygala,) of three colors, white, blue, or red, abounds on such ground; as does also the singularly elegant Asperula cynanchica, whose hairlike stems, with narrow leaves in distant whorls, support a branching tuft of white or pink tubular, four-cleft flowers. This graceful little plant is of the same family as the madder (Rubia,) and the ladies' bedstraw, (Galium,) and is still more closely connected with a greater favorite than either, the woodruff (Asperula odorata.) Several small species of clover (Trifolium,) some of them rare, are scattered about. One of the prettiest of these, There is one plant, an especial favorite with us, a denizen of these sand-downs, which Dr. Harvey has omitted to mention. Long before we had the pleasure of seeing it growing, we had formed acquaintance with the great sharp sea-rush (Juncus acutus) in the pages of that delightful contribution to local botany, the Rev. G. E. Smith's "Catalogue of the Plants of South Kent." Well do we remember the delight of first seeing the tall tufts of the plant rising in solitary grandeur upon the barren sands; as well as the punishment inflicted by this, "the noblest of British species of the genus, and the most terrible," upon the unwary hand with which, unmindful of Mr. Smith's kindly warning, we hastily attempted to rob the plant of its well-guarded treasures-the large and highly-polished chesnut-colored capsules! But leaving these reminiscences, which, however, afford to the naturalist some of his greatest pleasures, we once more, and for the last time, accompany Dr. Harvey to the sea-side. though not rare, is T. arvense, or hare's-foot | shrubs, not unlike our furze-bushes. It is singu clover, a species with erect wiry stems, narrow lar to see such rigid and dry-looking sticks, leaves, and long cylindrical heads of flowers, yielding, in their season, flowers of the same clothed with soft silky hairs. These may be col- structure and delicacy as the beautiful bind-weed lected for the winter nosegay, the silky heads re- of our hedges.”—Sea-side Book, p. 211. taining their form and much of their color in drying. Several wild geraniums and stork's-bills (Erodium) abound-the long, finely-cut leaves of the latter being more beautiful than the comparatively insignificant flowers. The more bare patches of sand are frequently diversified with scattered tufts of a half-shrubby spurge, (Euphorbia Paralias,) one or two feet high, with erect stems, clothed with closely-set, oblong, somewhat fleshy leaves, and bearing an umbel of greenishyellow flowers. Like all the spurges, it contains abundance of an acrid milky juice, which flows when any part of the stem or leaf is wounded. Most of the spurges grow in similarly dry ground, in various parts of the world, and perhaps nowhere are they found of larger size, or of stranger forms, than in the burning sands of Africa. There the smooth stem, clothed with thin leaves, which marks our British kinds, is exchanged for a succulent stem, often destitute of leaves altogether; or having those organs converted into spines, or into lumpy bodies. The stem of some is columnar, rising into trees twenty to forty feet high, and bearing great naked branches, like arms of gigantic candelabra; that of others is globose, or melon-shaped, armed with spiny ribs and furrows; and others again have a multitude of snake-like stems issuing from the expanded crown of their roots. In others the root itself forms the reservoir, being as large as a turnip or a beet; while an annual vegetation of soft leaves and flower-stalks is all that rises above the surface of the ground. All these varieties of habit are obviously designed to enable these plants to endure the climate and soil for which they are destined. Nourishment in some is stored up in the leaves, in others in the stem; and in others in the root, that they may have something to feed upon through the burning days and dewless nights of an African summer. Other plants contend with the difficulties of their situation by other means. Thus, one of the most beautiful of our native sand-hill plants, Convolvulus soldanella, sends creeping stems under the surface of the sand in all directions, and these emit from the joints, or nodes, bundles of finely-divided hair-like roots, that penetrate the loose soil, and ramifying as they go along, are constantly forming months ready to suck up every drop of water that penetrates the sand. Besides this provision of abundant roots, its leaves, though less fleshy than in some plants, are so in some degree, and retain in their tissues moisture even in seasons of drought. Along the sandy shores of other countries, and throughout the tropics, are found species of Convolvulus related to our C. soldanella, and these support existence by means of a similar system of creeping underground stems and fibrous roots. But with the soil the habit is varied; thus, in the arid plains of Persia, where probably a stiffer soil may prevent the spreading of underground stems, there are species of Convolvulus forming thorny Grassy pastures near the sea are sometimes' them over with flowers, bright in their brief seawell stored with small bulbous plants, which 'dot son. Early in spring, the vernal squill (Scilautumnalis,) open their fairy stars of blue, on tiny la verna,) and late in autumn the autumnal (Scilla scapes, an inch or two in height. These are common to many of our coasts. Another minute bulb, (Trichonema Columna,) the smallest British species of the Iris family, occurs in one or two places on the south coast of England, where it finds, perhaps, its most northern locality. It belongs to a genus whose species gradually inapproach the sun, and which has its maximum at crease in number, and in gay clothing, as you the Cape of Good Hope, where many sorts, with rich purple, golden, or milk-white flowers of large size, spangle the road-sides, or cover the barren Several of the smaller Orchidea are found in simground near the sea with a many-colored sheet. ilar places, especially Orchis Morio, whose dark purple flowers are among the first heralds of sumwhich scents the grass in the hottest months." mer, and lady's-tresses (Spiranthes a stivalis,*) -lb. p. 215. But we must conclude before we have ex Dr. Harvey intended to write Spiranthes autum*This we suspect to be a lapsus calami, and that nalis; since Sp. aestivalis is, so far as known, confined, in England at least, to a single locality in the New Forest, Hampshire, far from the sea. |