76 BALSAM-BOG. 



in a very rude figure) ; it is of tbe size of tlie Water Purslane, but of a 

 fine gi-een colour. These leaves are much crowded all round the stem, 

 and each is slightly umbilicated in the centre. Collectively these tufts 

 form, at the apex of the branch, a kind of depressed pyramid, composed 

 of leaves placed close to each other in an imbricated manner, like the 

 scales of an artichoke, [The Abbe's bird's-eye view of the apex of a 

 branch is also correctly rather than elegantly figured.] 



"From the heart or centre, and from the torn edges of the leaves, or 

 if they are only chafed, or at seasons when the plant is surcharged with 

 resinous liquor, this gum-resin exudes, and congeals in the air. When 

 the plant is cut or torn, or merely rubbed on the surface, a white, creamy, 

 and viscid substance flows, which sticks to the fingers like glue, and is 

 very adhesive. 



"The interior of these hummocks is hollow, the crust or surface sup- 

 ported, as it were, by the stems and the branches, of which the leaves, 

 not exposed to the air, are brown and decayed ; so^netimes other plauU 

 vegetate in the interior of tJiis vault, emerge into daylight through tlie 

 mass, and flourish above it. When these lumps are perfect, they are 

 very firm and solid, so as not only to bear a man «ated upon them, 

 but the whole weight of a man in walking over them; nevertheless a 

 sudden and violent kick of the foot easily breaks into this hollow, and 

 with the hand large masses may be wrenched away. The broken roots 

 and stems also yield the same white resin, which flows from the wounds 

 like the milky juice of an EupJiorhia .''' 



Lastly, towards the close of the same chapter, after describing other 

 plants, M. Pernetty reverts to his favourite Gommiers, in connection 

 with a kind of Heather, evidently the red-fruited Crowherry (Erapetrum 

 rubrum). " It is found very commonly growing out of the Gommiers, 

 in such a manner as to lead to the belief that it is a branch (or tuft) 

 of the same plant, with different leaves, and bearing (scarlet) fruit." 

 "This Gommier is only green upon the surface, because the leaves 

 scarcely exceed a quarter of a line in length ; they are, so to say, 

 glued together and arranged in a rose-shaped manner. The flower so 

 much resembles the seed-vessel as easily to deceive one. This capsule 

 very much resembles that of Anise, but it is ' d'un gris de terre.' I 

 have seen hummocks of this plant more than ten feet in their widest 

 diameter, and four and a half feet in height ; ordinarily they assume a 

 nearly spherical form, but the largest have the form of a potato cut 

 through the middle." 



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