106 GUERNSEY. ° 
But, as a rule, it seldom invests a tree closely until its vigour has 
from some cause begun to languish. This plant was dedicated to 
Bacchus, and it was customary in the Middle Ages to hang a bough 
-of ivy over the doors of inns and taverns ; whence arose the proverb: 
Vino bono non est hederé, Good wine needs no bush. 
Gunnera scabra, Ruiz. and Pav. Locally, Wild Rhubarb. 
Alien. 
Thirty or forty years ago this magnificent plant was entirely 
-confined to private grounds: now it is thoroughly naturalised and 
has spread rapidly. It is seen at its best in the valley overlooking 
Moulin Huet Bay, where it expands enormous leaves and bears 
huge fruiting spikes two or three feet high and six inches thick. It 
is also to be found, though in less abundance, in several other 
valleys at St. Martin’s, as well as here and there in various parts of 
the island. This gigantic plant is a native of Chili, and the following 
extract from Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle, under date Dec. 1, 1834, 
may be interesting to those who have never seen it growing :—‘ On 
‘the large island of Tanqui, I one day noticed, growing on the sand- 
‘stone cliffs, some very fine plants of the Panke (Gwnnera scabra), 
which somewhat resembles the rhubarb on a gigantic scale. The 
inhabitants eat the stalks, which are subacid ; they tan leather with 
the roots, and prepare a black dye from them. The leaf is nearly 
-circular, but deeply indented on its margin. I measured one which 
was nearly eight feet in diameter, and therefore no less than twenty- 
four in circumference! The stalk is rather more than a yard high, 
-and each plant sends out four or five of these enormous leaves, 
presenting together a very noble appearance.’ 
(Viscum album, L. Mistletoe. Miss B. Agnew informs me that 
-about twenty years ago mistletoe used to grow on some old apple- 
trees in an orchard behind Les Buttes, St. Saviour’s, and she has 
-often seen specimens picked there. There can be no doubt, how- 
ever, that it was an introduced plant at that station. Five or six 
years ago I saw several tufts of mistletoe growing in Mr. Dawber’s 
garden at Ruettes Brayes, but the seed had been intentionally 
sown. ‘The plant is not mentioned in Gosselin’s old list, nor in 
-any later one that I know of; and it is significant that it has no 
patois name, although cartloads of it are brought to the island from 
France every winter. Viscum album has certainly no title to rank 
-among the indigenous plants of these islands, though its absence is 
remarkable, seeing how abundant it is on the opposite portion of the 
French mainland. There it grows usually on apple-trees and 
poplars; occasionally it is found on a variety of other trees, very 
warely on the oak.) 
