138 THE NATURALIST IN BERMUDA. 
Prickly Pear (Cactus opuntia). Grows wild all over the 
islands. 
Cochineal Plant, or Indian Fig (C. cochinillifer). In 
gardens. 
Scarlet-flowered Sage (Salvia coccinea). Road sides. 
Common Sage Bush (Lantana salvifolia). All over the 
islands, wherever the land remains uncultivated. It forms 
the natural underwood of the islands. 
Bamboo Cane (Arundo bambos). In lofty clumps. 
Cultivated Reed (A. faz). 
Arrow-Root (Maranta arundinacea). Few there are in 
England, who have not heard of the far-famed Bermudian 
Arrow-root, so highly prized as a light digestible food for 
invalids. The followimg remarks upon its cultivation and 
manufacture, by a gentleman resident in the islands, are 
too valuable to be omitted :—“This plant, as tradition 
informs us, was brought here from Charlestown, South 
Carolina; and, from its name, ‘Indian Arrow-root, must, 
I think, have been called so, from the resemblance of the 
end of the root, to the arrow used by the native tribes. 
The root, or stick, grows in the following shape, and the 
stem varies from two to four feet in height, the root 
seldom or ever being over an inch and a half in 
diameter, at the biggest, or lower end. I have seen 
as many as eighteen, and twenty sticks, or roots, 
growing from one stem. There is much trouble in 
digging this plant up, which process takes place 
during the months of January, February, and March. The 
root, at each joint, is covered with a skin, which is of a 
thick substance, and, as the root ripens, resembles a bit of 
gauze, and, when quite ripe, comes off almost as soon as 

