WILD CELERY. 221 



around. After some time a large fire was seen blazing 

 a few hundred yards from the ship, and, amid rain 

 and sleet, we could descry from the deck some moving 

 forms. They had succeeded, I know not how, in 

 getting the damp timber into a blaze, and were good- 

 naturedly employed in gathering whatever they could 

 lay hands upon to contribute to my botanical collec- 

 tion. Not much could be expected under such con- 

 ditions, but everything in this, to me, quite new region 

 was full of interest. Dead branches covered with large 

 lichens introduced me to one of the most characteristic 

 features of the vegetation. The white fronds, four or 

 five inches wide, and several feet in length, enliven the 

 winter aspect of these shores, and possibly supply food 

 to some of the wild animals. Among the plants 

 which had been dragged up at random were several 

 roots of the wild celery of the southern hemisphere. 

 It is widely spread throughout the islands of the 

 southern ocean, as well as on the shores of both coasts 

 of Patagonia, and was described as a distinct species 

 by Dupetit Thouars ; but in truth, as Sir Joseph 

 Hooker long ago remarked in the *' Flora Antarctica," 

 there are no structural characters by which to distin- 

 guish it from the common wild celery of Europe, 

 which is likewise essentially a maritime plant. Grow- 

 ing in a region where it is little exposed to sunshine, 

 it has less of the strong characteristic smell of our wild 

 plants, and the leaves may be eaten raw as salad, or 

 boiled, which is not the case with our plant until the 

 gardener, by heaping earth about the roots, diminishes 

 the pungency of the smell and flavour. 



One thought alone troubled me as I lay down in 



