REPORTS ON EXCURSIONS. 105 
the Rheea fibre, from which is manufactured the beautiful fabric 
known as “grass cloth,” rivalling the best French cambric in 
softness and fineness of texture. The maté (Jlex paraguensis) 
occupies a place in the domestic economy of South America similar 
to that of Indian or Chinese tea in our own country. The ebony- 
striped tree-fern (Cyathea medullaris) contains in the centre of 
its trunk a soft pulpy medullary substance, which bears some 
resemblance to sago and is similarly used as a food-product in 
Australia. The New Zealand flax (Phormiwm tenax) was found by 
Cook, when he first landed in New Zealand, to be in common use 
among the natives for making various articles of clothing, string, 
nets, &c. Guaiacwm officinale is notable as yielding a hard and 
heavy wood of a greenish-brown colour, known to turners as 
“ lignum-vite,” and used by them for manufacturing blocks and 
pulleys, as well as for various other purposes where hardness is 
essential and weight not an objection. Cola acwminata, a native 
of tropical Africa, yields the kola-nut of commerce. In Western 
Africa the trees grow mostly in the vicinity of the coast, and an 
extensive trade in these nuts is carried on with the natives of the 
interior. The practice of eating kola extends as far as Fezzan and 
Tripoli. A small portion of one of these seeds is chewed before 
_ each meal, and is supposed to promote digestion, as well as to 
_ improve the flavour of anything eaten after it, and even to render 
__ half-putrid water drinkable. 
‘ The hawthorn, lilac, and broom were observed in blossom, their 
period of flowering being fully three weeks earlier than it was last 
year. The following plants were observed in bloom in the 
herbaceous ground :—Anemone alpina, Trollius ewropeus, 7. 
{ asiaticus, Aquilegia vulgaris, Stellaria Holostea, S. nemorum, 
Lychnis diurna, Geranium pheum, G. sylvaticum, Lathyrus 
macrorrhizus, Orobus repens, Gewm rivale, Potentilla Salisburgensis, 
—Alechemilla alpina, A. vulgaris, Mewm Athamanticum, Myrrhis 
odorata, Cherophyllum aromaticum, Aigopodium major, Astrantia 
major, Dondia Epipactis, Valeriana pyrenaica, V. dioica, Asperula 
odorata, Gnaphalium leontopodium, Doronicum Clusii, D. Pardali- 
_anches, Centawrea montana, Erica herbacea, Armeria alpina, 
Primula vulgaris, Vinca major, V. minor, Phlox canadensis, 
Ph. frondosa, Polemonium cerulewm, Anchusa sempervirens, 
Symphytum tuberosum, S. officinale, Pulmonaria officinalis, 
G 
