348 



FLORA ANTARCTICA. 



\~Fuegia, the 



of mountain plants, having the upper limit in elevation which they attain sharply defined, throughout several degrees 

 of latitude, but which descend and assume other aspects in a warmer climate. This, also, I have attempted to 

 express on paper by dotted lines drawn down to the sea-level, from the Chilian positions of F. betuloides and 

 F. obliqua. The abrupt termination of all the Beeches at about lat. 35°, occurs where the equally sudden change in 

 the climate of northern and southern Chili takes place. These trees, like all extra-tropical plants, require a certain 

 degree of cold, and in pursuing their range towards the warmer parallels, they ascend the mountains. They are, 

 however, even more dependent upon humidity and an equable climate than on temperature ; and being further 

 impatient of vicissitudes and dryness, they will not pass beyond the influence of those S.W. winds which drench 

 all parts of western South America, alpine and lowland, south of the parallel of 37°. 



.///////,/Vj faA-trt tn'tri Appendix. /,-/■//;., 



mOf',,i./,i ZZinch 



Aconcagua 



SrUHV H.500 



M' Sarmientxi 



1.6O0 Miles. 



One of the few attractions of spring in Antarctic America, is the bursting of the leaf and flower buds of <h 

 deciduous-leaved Beech from their resinous gummy scales ; when a delightfully fragrant odour pervades the woods. 

 The unfolding of the plaited foliage was watched with great interest, for we bad not witnessed for years any process 

 so closely resembling that of an English spring. It recalled Linnaeus' enthusiastic description of the first burst 

 of the birch leaf in Lapland. 



best in the island, for ground-frames of houses, planks for vessels, and beams. The piraguas are built chiefly of 

 this wood. There are two sorts, one an evergreen, and the other a deciduous-leaved tree. It is evidently a Beech, 

 aud the same that grows in all parts of the Strait of Magalhaens ; the smooth-leaved sort is F. obliqua, \ I I 

 Capt. King attaches the name of " Roble " to his specimen of F. Dombeyi. 



