APPENDIX. XXI 



aj3pearance. and probably bas also bulbs. Tlie Byhlis^'^ is a 

 most beautiful plant, erect, covered witli very singular 

 glands, a foot and half high, with filiform leaves ten or 

 eleven inches long, and purple flowers more than an inch 

 and half in diameter. All of these are well worthy cultiva- 

 tion, but it will perhaps be difficult to preserve them. 



These Droseraceous plants appear likely to be in some 

 cases of commercial value as dyer's plants. Every part of 

 D. gigantea stains paper of a brilliant deep purple ; and 

 when fragments are treated with ammonia they yield a clear 

 yellow. The bulbs of D. erythrorhiza and stolonifera possess 

 the same property ; in these there is a deep scarlet powder 

 secreted by the scales of the bulbs, which is instantly dis- 

 solved in ammonia, forming at first an orange-coloured fluid 

 of great richness, but it soon changes to the rich purple 

 above mentioned, which is more like the colour obtained 

 from Archil than any thing else to which I can compare it. 

 Possibly these bulbs are what Dr. Milligan speaks of under 

 the name of " boom," which he says " are scarlet roots, not 

 unlike in shape and size to tulip roots. They roast them in 

 the ashes, and then pound them between two flat stones, 

 rubbing the latter with a ball of earth to prevent the root 

 adhering to it ; when thus prepared they are mucilaginous 

 and of a glossy black colour ; they may be considered the 

 bread of the natives who live near the coast." If so they 

 may be easily enough obtained for the purpose of exporta- 

 tion, and may assist the poorer settlers in turning to account 

 the produce of their land. 



PiTTOSPORACEiE. 



The forms of this order found in the Colony are, with 

 the exception of a Plttosporum of which I have seen frag- 

 ments, almost peculiar to the West Coast. Both Sollya hete- 

 rophylla and S. linear'is are found ; the latter is a new 

 species, with very narrow undivided leaves, and flowers of 

 the brightest blue ; it has recently been introduced by Mr. 



(82) Byblis gigantea ; glanduloso-pubescens, caule erecto flexuoso (sesquipedali), 

 foliis longissimls filiformibus, pedunculis solitariis unifloris axillaribus foliis 

 brevioribus, sepalis lineari-lanceolatis 3-6-nervus quam petala serrulata duplo 

 brevioribus, stigmate slmplici. 



