76 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



idea of it to say simply that it belongs to the Umbelliferous 

 family, as (to an unobservant eye) it has not the slightest 

 resemblance to any of that family with which we are ac- 

 quainted. This, and a kind of grass called Tussock-grass, 

 seem to be the chief objects of interest in the vegetation of 

 the Falkland Islands. The following description of these 

 plants is borrowed from Dr. Hooker. 



" Grasses and the Balsam-bog (Bolax glebaria) form the 

 chief and indeed the only conspicuous botanical feature in 

 the landscape, covering the hills, plains, peat-bogs, and 

 coasts through the whole year. The Tussock-grass grows 

 in a very peculiar manner : the roots of these plants project 

 above ground ; the roots of each plant forming a hillock of 

 some six feet high and four or five in diameter. Prom the 

 top of this hillock springs the copious grassy foliage, with 

 blades full six feet in length, drooping on all sides ; and as 

 there is a space of some few feet between each plant, the 

 tips of these Grasses meet each other so as to overarch the 

 space between." A Tussock-bog, as it is called, is " like a 

 forest of miniature Palms, and forms a complete labyrinth ; 

 leaves and sky are all that can be seen overhead, and these 

 curious roots and decayed vegetable matter on both sides, 

 before and behind ; except now and then when a penguin 



