6 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: BOTANY. 



which can scarcely be subdivided, or at least, not at present, nor until the 

 entire district shall have been carefully explored, I find it necessary, in my 

 account of its vegetation, to treat its northern and southern parts sepa- 

 rately. My only reason for this is the unequal number of species in the 

 outlying sections north and south. I shall begin with the vegetation of 

 the southern section, by which I mean the territory between the Straits of 

 Magellan and Molyneux Sound. 



The forests here are almost entirely composed of two species of trees, 

 Nothofagus betuloides (Mirb.) Blume, and Drimys winteri Forst. The 

 only conifer to be found here, Libocedrus tetragona (Hook.) Endl., can 

 hardly be considered forest-forming. It generally grows in small, thin 

 groves, or sparsely intermingled with Nothofagus and Drimys, as a rule, 

 on very boggy ground. The shrub-vegetation of these forests is neither 

 rich in species, nor very luxuriant in habit of growth, the reason of which 

 may, I think, be found in the prevailing climatic conditions, the deficiency 

 of light, on account of frequent fogs and a generally clouded sky, and the 

 dark green foliage of the trees, which admits very little sunlight. There 

 is but one species which in the twilight of these forests, and only here, at- 

 tains its full development and vigor, Lebetanthus myrsinites (Lam.) Endl., 

 a small, half-climbing shrub, which often entirely covers the lower parts of 

 the tree-trunks. Other shrubs are Desfontainea spinosa, Ruiz et Pav., 

 Berberis ilicifolia Linn, fil., and Pernettya niucronata (Linn, fil.) Gaud. 

 Of other phanerogamic plants, there are scarcely any, at least where the 

 trees stand close together, except Callixene marginata Lam. On the 

 other hand, the vegetation of epiphytic ferns is all the richer, both in indi- 

 viduals and species. On the trunks of the trees, as well as interwoven 

 with the mosses covering the ground and the decaying logs, grow Hymen- 

 ophyllum tortuosum Banks et Sol., H. pectinatum Cav., and H. dicho- 

 tomum Cav., not unfrequently all together. More sparingly occur Hymen- 

 ophyllum ceruginosum Cav. and Polypodium australe (R. Br.), besides 

 which the ground presents to our notice two other ferns, Asplenium 

 magellanicum Kaulf. and Gleichenia quadripartita (Lam.) Hook., the lat- 

 ter growing in clusters. 



Of lichens the denser forests have not many to offer, as these plants do 

 not seem to thrive well in the dim light here prevailing. The only species 

 met with are Sticta caulescensDz Not. and S. filicina Ach. (ex. p.). The 

 mosses, especially the Hepaticcz, on the other hand, occur in great num- 



