VEGETABLE LIFE IN THE PRAIRIES, PAMPAS, AND LLANOS OF THE NEW WORLD.
Of all the provinces, as yet uninhabited or only scantily peopled, which
compose the northern regions of the New World, none offer so vast an
extent of prairies as that which is situated in the vicinity of the
Neosho and the Vert-de-Gris, between the Missouri frontier and the River
Arkansas. Woods of small extent--or, more generally, limited patches of
copse and thicket--are met with at intervals in these plains. The
_Smilax rotundifolia_, a species of sarsaparilla, with round leaves and
sarmentous stems; the _Rhus toxicodendrum_, a shrub with a very
poisonous juice; and the _Asimina triloba_, a plant bearing nutritious
fruit, are, with a few other subfrutescent species, the denizens of
these lonely localities. Annual or perennial plants abound in the
prairies, and attain there a considerable development, especially in the
more humid districts. The plains bordering on the Swan's Marsh, situated
upon the upper course of the River Osage, nourish a great number of
species, as elegant as they are varied. As in our own meadows, the
Gramineæ, the Cyperaceæ (or Sedges), the Leguminosæ, and the
Compositæ--the latter especially--are very extensively diffused. But, in
contrast to the majority of our species, their representatives are in
general of remarkable dimensions, with flowers of extraordinary
splendour, and most of them have been naturalized in our British
gardens.
The American prairies, again, like the meadow-lands of Europe, are
alternated with dry, gravelly spaces, marshes, swampy angles, and wooded
tracts. It is curious to trace a certain likeness between the genera
which inhabit these localities in both continents. Thus, M. Trécul, who
explored, in 1848 and 1849, nearly the whole of the State of Missouri to
the foot of the Rocky Mountains, Louisiana, Texas, and a part of
Northern Mexico, discovered in the vicinity of the Swan's Marsh,
Water-Plantains (_Alisma_), Sagittarias, and Nymphæas, in the inundated
districts; Characeæ--their tubular branches incrusted with carbonate of
lime--bladder-plants, and the beautiful floating Naiadaceæ, in deeper
pools and stagnant waters; and the Lythraceæ (or Loose-Strife tribe) on
the banks of the brooklets. But the commonest aquatic plant in these
morasses, and that which conceals, so to speak, all the other plants
proper to such localities, is the _Nelumbium calophyllum_, with its
rose-coloured blossoms; its seeds and rhizomes are eaten by the natives.
The vast plains of Missouri are sufficiently fertile. Among the plants
most abundant in somewhat damp places we must notice several
_Compositæ_; the _Liatris_, with their violet flowers and long spiky
bunches, the _Calliopsis tinctoria_ of the dyers, the _Gaura_ of
Lindheimer, and the _Tripsacum dactyloides_. Asters, Erigerons,
Gaillardies, Helianthi (sun-flowers), Solidagos, the _Rudbeckia hirta_,
and the _Coreopsis_, are found almost as far south as Texas. By the side
of these _Compositæ_ flourish several _Desmodiums_ and _Cassias_, some
graceful _Baptisias_--with blue flowers and light green foliage, the
_Melanthum Virginicum_, the _Euphorbia marginata_, the _Asclepias
Cornuti_--now naturalised in the neighbourhood of Paris--the _Hibiscus
palustris_ and _H. moscheutos_, gigantic Malvaceæ, whose
splendidly-beautiful flowers are often three or four inches in diameter.
As plants widely spread in the stonier Prairies, we may note the Gauras,
different varieties of _OEnothera_, and especially the _Silphium
laciniatum_ (vulgarly called the Magnetic Plant, or Compass of the
Prairies). Its leaves _are said_ to turn their faces uniformly east and
west, so that their edges are consequently directed due north and south.
The plant is also known as Pilot-weed, Polar-plant, Rosin-weed, and
Turpentine-weed; the latter name derived from the copious resin exuded
by its stems, which grow to a height of three to six feet, as well as by
the leaves, which are deeply pinnatified.
In the small woods which skirt the Prairies is found in abundance,
twining round the bushes, the _Apios tuberosa_, a leguminous plant
formerly recommended to European cultivation on account of the rounded
tubercles which grow upon its subterranean stems. The Arabians collect
them in the spring, and carefully dry them to eat for food. The Apios
belongs to the family of Umbelliferæ, and is consequently allied to
celery, parsnip, and carrot.
In Missouri, and as far as the confines of Mississippi, we also fall in
with very productive sandy plains alternating with wooded uplands. This
country recalls, on the whole, the aspect of that which we have just
described, and the plants which thrive therein are almost the same.
On the hills and woody slopes in the neighbourhood of the Iron Mountain,
we likewise meet with sufficiently verdurous prairies. M. Trécul
collected there numerous Gramineæ, some species of Carex, Plantains,
Euphorbias, Polygalas, and Vervains; many genera, in fact, which in
France, and similar soils elsewhere, have numerous representatives. It
is in the grassy tracts of the wooded districts that the larger species
of _Phlox_ flourish, while the smaller varieties of the same genus
vegetate upon the hills. The low humid meadows enchant us with their
gorgeous scarlet _Actæas_,[111] their yellow Balsams their _Echinacea
purpureas_, and their superb Lilies; those which are dry and rather
stony are covered with the broad golden flowers of the gay _OEnothera
macrocarpa_.[112]
[Illustration: VEGETABLE LIFE IN THE AMERICAN PRAIRIES.
1. Liatris squarrosa. 3. Asclepias Cornuti.
2. Calliopsis tinctoria. 4. Tripsacum dactyloides.
5. Gaura Lindheimeri.]
Among the shrubs which people the marshy tracts of this same region, I
must point out the _Sassafras_, a kind of laurel with deciduous leaves,
yellow flowers, which precede the foliage, and small dark-blue fruit.
It is found from Canada to Florida; a mere bush in the north, but a tree
fifty feet high in the south. The wood is soft, light, of a coarse
fibre, with a pungent aromatic taste, and a strong agreeable odour. The
wood is brought to market in the shape of chips, but for medicinal
purposes the thick spongy bark of the root is prepared, and it is found
extremely valuable as a powerful stimulant, sodorific, and diuretic. The
mucilaginous leaves are employed in thickening soup. An infusion of the
bark or wood makes a pleasant beverage, formerly known as _Saloop_; and
the wood also yields an oil which is used medicinally.
But it is in the state of Texas, and especially near San Antonio de
Bejar, that those immense desert spaces commence which occupy all the
northern region of Mexico. The southern districts of Texas offer in
their prevailing landscapes a mixture of beautiful prairies and shady
woods. Among the plants peculiar to humid and turfy localities, I may
particularize the _Sarracenias_, a group of remarkable exogens, whose
leaves are hollowed out into tubes or pitchers, open at the upper end,
and streaked with bands of different colours; the Eriocaulons, a kind of
rush, carrying their small flowers in spherical capitals on the summits
of their tall branching stems; and the Nelumbios (_Nelumbium
calophyllum_), aquatic plants of unusual beauty, American congeners of
the celebrated Lotus, the "insane root which takes the reason prisoner."
The nuts are wholesome and edible, and the root-stocks are also
occasionally eaten. These plants are likewise found, in analogous
habitats, in Mississippi and Louisiana, accompanied by the light-green
Magnolia, the Dog-berry tree of Florida, several Wax-berries, and the
Sassafras laurel, now acclimatized in Europe, and whose bark is employed
as I have said, medicinally, while its wood and roots are made use of by
turners and toy-manufacturers.
[Illustration: VEGETABLE LIFE IN TEXAS.
1. Nelumbium calophyllum. 3. Eriocaulon flavidulum.
2. Sarracenia purpurea. 4. Laurus sassafras.]
Prairies abound in Texas, wide rolling sweeps of grassy sward, with an
apparently interminable horizon, unbroken by rock, or wood, or
river--leagues upon leagues of rank thick grass where countless herds
are depastured, and where the hunter still finds game worthy of his
deadly rifle. Among those which skirt the Bay of Matagorda, and extend
in the vicinity of Victoria, Gonzalès, and Seguin, M. Trécul discovered
an ample variety of Compositæ; of Gramineæ, more especially those
belonging to the generæ _Poa_, _Spartina_, _Dactyloctenium_; Cyperaceæ,
Euphorbias, Cucumbers, and Gourds. From the Texan Prairies our European
gardeners have of late years received a Graminea of the genus _Panicum_,
the _Black Mosquito Grass_, which by its long creeping rhizomes may be
employed with undoubted success to arrest the inland movement of the
Dunes and shifting sandy shores. The yellow water-lily (_Nuphar lutea_)
spreads its fine leaves on the surface of the Texan streams, in
beautiful companionship with the _Nuphar advena_ and the _Nymphæa
odorata_. In the same localities vegetates a weak variety of our
European _Sagittaria_, and the _Pistia spatulata_ spreads itself upon
the water, like our English Duckweed, both being members of the family
_Pistaceæ_.
As far as New Braunfels, the Prairies are occasionally relieved by
clumps of fine old trees; but below that point the traveller only
encounters, and that at rare intervals, a few scarce coppices and scanty
thickets. Growing more common at San Antonio de Bejar, they abound in
the region of Castroville, and spread over nearly the entire country to
the very borders of Mexico.
These bushes or coppices mainly consist of the _Prosapis glandulosa_,
the _Guaiacum angustifolium_, the _Xanthoxylum inerme_ and a few
Acacias.
The Guaiacum[113] is noticeable for its hard and heavy wood, generally
known as _Lignum Vitæ_, sometimes as _Guaiacum wood_, and occasionally
as _Brazil wood_. It also yields a peculiar resinous product, which is
medicinally employed, in powder, pill, and tincture, for the relief of
chronic rheumatism and chronic skin diseases. It is of a greenish-brown
colour, and though it has scarcely any taste, leaves a hot arid
sensation in the mouth.
The _Xantoxyton_ type, of the order Xanthoxylaceæ, derives its name from
the yellowness of its timber. Its fruits have a pungent aromatic taste,
like pepper. The popular name of "toothache tree" is applied to some of
the American species, from the relief their bark and fruits are supposed
to give in cases of that distressing affliction.
In the neighbourhood of Castroville, Trécul found, profusely scattered
among the thickets, a species of _Ephedra_, closely resembling the
_Ephedra altissima_, whose feeble reed-like branches were literally
covered with small red fruits, producing a novel and attractive effect.
As a plant curious from its mode of vegetation, and which is spread in
Texas as well as in Louisiana, I may mention the _Tillandria usneoides_,
so named after Professor Tillands, of Abo. This is a genus of
_Bromeliaceæ_, growing on the boughs of trees, and notably on those of
the evergreen oak. It hangs down like a tuft of long gray hair, in
somewhat the same fashion as certain lichens (_usnea_) in European
pine-forests, communicating to the trees a strange and positively weird
aspect. The plant is collected, and the outer cellular portion being
removed by soaking in water, the fibrous residuum is then employed to
stuff cushions, mattresses, and pillows; whence it is sometimes called
"Vegetable horse-hair."
[Illustration: VEGETABLE LIFE IN THE TEXAN PRAIRIES.
1. Yucca Tréculeana. 4. Echinocactus robustus.
2. Silphium terebinthinaceum. 5. Cereus Peruvianus.
3. Mamillaria rodantha. 6. Opuntia microdasys.]
In the thickets that dot the central Prairies commonly flourish the
_Lantana Camara_, and the curious _Ungnandia speciosa_, a species of
chestnut tree on a very reduced scale.
It was in Texas, and in the rocky, arid, and hilly plains, that the
French botanist Trécul discovered several notable varieties of Yuccas,
to one of which, a new, and certainly the most beautiful species, his
name has very justly been affixed: the _Yucca Tréculeana_. It raises its
tall panicle of gorgeous flowers from the centre of a crown of glossy,
rigid, spear-like leaves, like a victorious trophy. In Eastern Texas we
note the first appearance, in the drier and stonier portions of the
Prairies, of a representation of the family _Cactaceæ_, the _Opuntia
frutescens_, frequently growing side by side with the _Silphium
terebinthinaceum_. The _Opuntia_ is more generally known as the "Indian
Fig" or "Prickly Pear," from the large purple juicy fruits which it
yields. The _Silphium_ belongs to the family of _Compositæ_. But Western
Texas is the true birth-place of these oleaginous plants, some of which,
such as the _Echinocactus robusta_, the _Mamillaria rodantha_, and the
_Opuntia microdasys_ ("small-thorny Opuntia"), are cultivated in our
apartments, where they require but very little attention. M. Trécul has
discovered in this region a new and rare variety of Echinocactus (_E.
Tréculeanus_), some kinds of Cereus, and, especially, the _Cereus
Peruvianus_, a beautiful plant with large showy flowers.
Such are the principal plants which, in North America, characterize the
vegetation of the Prairies and the Savannahs. This rapid and condensed
description will show the reader that the species most extensively
spread belong to the genera in which are grouped the more common
inhabitants of our own Old World meadows and grassy plains.
* * * * *
If we now transport ourselves, on the poet's winged Pegasus, that takes
no account of distance or of natural obstacles, to the Equatorial zone
of the New World--into Guatemala, for example--we shall find the
undulating and verdurous prairies giving place to high table-lands
furrowed by deep and romantic ravines. Their botanical interest,
however, is trivial, and their vegetation of a meagre and stunted kind.
But between Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras, lies an extensive
valley, locally named _Llanora_, sown with numerous beautiful varieties
of plants. Among them the _Gramineæ_ family predominates, and, without
attaining the proportions and the quality of the herbs which we shall
meet with in the interior, form breadths of meadow very charming in
their rare fresh greenness.
From the summit of the Cordilleras, in the neighbourhood of Bogota, at
an altitude of about 3200 feet, the eye surveys almost the entire extent
of those vast level plains which stretch from the base of the
mountain-chain to remote Brazil, Guiana, and Venezuela.
The Steppes comprised between Bogota and the river Meta are formed, in
general, of Gramineæ with crawling stems, and with nearly always very
tall culms, especially in the cooler localities. Herbage is so abundant
that the traveller who penetrates into these immense pastures
experiences almost insurmountable difficulties. He himself and his horse
are nearly hidden by the tall grasses, which frequently attain a stature
of five to seven feet. And such is their vigour, that after having been
burnt to the ground by one of the terrible conflagrations so frequent in
these countries, they spring up again with wondrous swiftness; if the
plants had not flowered prior to the passage of the destructive flames,
they do so afterwards, and even when their leaves have been wholly
destroyed. The lofty table-lands of Bogota and Tukerres, in New Grenada,
present a succession of rich pasturages, perfumed by some species of
Labiatæ, and notably by the _Micromeria Browniana_, which thrives among
the Gramineæ, their fodder is highly esteemed.
The barren and sandy plains of Peru, fertilized by the numerous
water-courses which furrow them, are covered with thick bloom and
verdure in the rainy season. With the Gramineæ and Juncaceæ--the grasses
and rushes common in these Steppes--mingle different members of the
Liliaceæ family, and especially several kinds of Lily. The higher region
of the eastern face of the Peruvian Cordillera, situated between 10,000
and 13,000 feet of elevation, forms an immense undulating plateau
watered by the upper course of the Maranon. Everywhere, over a
considerable area, the plains are clothed with a meagre vegetation, or
alternate with wide morasses, lakes, and brooks. Among the plants which
people them is a species of the Gramineæ, _Stipa itchu_; and there are
also several Alpine varieties, Compositæ, Leguminosæ, and one of the
Cyperaceæ family, the _Cyperus articulatus_.
The Llanos of Caraccas, and of the Rio Apure and the Meta, over which
roam immense herds of cattle, are, in the strictest sense of the term,
says Humboldt,[114] "grassy plains." Their prevalent vegetation,
belonging to the two families of Cyperaceæ and Gramineæ, consists of
various species of _Paspalum_, _P. leptostachyum_ and _P. linticulare_;
of _Kyllingia_, of _Panicum_, _Anthephora_, _Aristida_, _Vilfa_, and
_Anthistiria_. Only here and there are found, interspersed among the
Gramineæ, a few herbaceous dicotyledonous plants, consisting of two very
low-growing species of Mimosa (Sensitive Plant)--Mimosa intermedia and
Mimosa dormiens--which are great favourites with the wild horses and
cattle. The natives give to this group of plants, which close their
delicate feathery leaves on being touched, the expressive name of
_Dormideras_--"sleepy plants." Nota tree is visible for miles; but where
solitary individuals occur, they are, in moist places, the Mauritia
Palm; in arid districts, a Protacea--namely, the _Rhopula complicata_;
also the highly useful Palma da Corija, or de Sombrero; and our _Corypha
inermis_, an umbrella palm, whose leaves are used to thatch the roofs of
huts.
The Mauritia palm, Palm Moriche, _Mauritia flexuosa_, Quiteve, or Ita
palm--for by any or all of these names it is known--belongs to the
family of _Lepidocaryeæ_. The trunk grows as high as 26 feet, but it
probably requires from 120 to 150 years to reach this height. It extends
high up on the declivity of the Duida Mountains, and forms in moist
places beautiful groups of a shining emerald verdure, like that of our
European alder groves. The trees preserve the humidity of the ground by
their shade, and hence the Indians say that the Mauritia draws the water
round its roots by a mysterious attraction. From its tops the Indians
frequently suspend their hammocks to escape the attacks of the
mosquitoes.
Sir Walter Raleigh was the first who brought to England this fruit of
the Mauritia palm, which he very justly likened, on account of its
scales, to a fir cone.
[Illustration: VEGETABLE LIFE IN THE PLAINS OF THE META.
1. Anthephora elegans. 3. Anthistiria ciliata.
2. Panicum Cajennense. 4. Aristida capillacea.
5. Cyperus articulatus.]
The plains of the Rio Negro and the Amazons are the home and habitat of
the most remarkable of all aquatic plants, the _Victoria regia_,[115]
truly deserving its _royal_ rank on account of its curious conformation
and splendid beauty. It is said to have been first observed by Häuke,
about 1801, and afterwards to have been noticed by Bonpland, D'Orbigny,
and others; but the first person who accurately described it was
Pöppig, in 1832, who saw it in the river Amazons. Sir Richard
Schomburgk, who discovered it in the rivers of Guiana, was, I believe,
the first to introduce it in England, where a splendid specimen may be
seen at Kew, another at Chatsworth, and a third in the Botanic Garden of
Glasgow. Its thick fleshy root-stocks send up a number of long
cylindrical leaf-stalks, traversed by air canals, and armed with stout
conical prickles. The blade of the leaf is circular, and floats on the
surface of the water; when fully developed, it measures from six to
twelve feet in diameter, and its margin being uniformly turned upwards
to the depth of two or three inches, it assumes the appearance of a
large shallow tray. The lower surface is traversed by a number of very
prominent veins, radiating from the centre to the margin, and connected
with one another by smaller transverse nerves; so that the whole
under-side, which is of a purplish colour, is divided into a network of
irregular quadrangular compartments or open cells, admirably fitting the
leaf for floating on the water. The flowers rise upon prickly stalks.
They are more than a foot in diameter, with the white outer petals
inclined downwards; while the central rose-coloured ones, with the
stamens, remain erect: the whole presenting the fanciful appearance of a
central rose-coloured crown resting on a circular range of snowy and
most gracefully curved petals. The fruit is a sort of globular capsule,
about the size of a child's head, and formidably beset with prickles.
The interior is fleshy, and divided into numerous cells, full of round
farinaceous seeds, which are eaten roasted by the Spaniards. Hence, in
some parts of South America, it is called _Maïs del Agua_, or Water
Maize.
The pools and lagoons of this region nourish numerous other aquatic
plants, among which it will suffice to particularize the _Scyndapsus
fragrans_ and the _Raphia tædigera_.
Turning now to the vast area of the Brazilian empire, we find it divided
into _matos_ (or woods) and _campos_ (or open plains). When the
inhabitants would convert into cultivable land a district occupied by
forest, they set fire to it during the dry season, and soon a vegetation
of frutescent but dwarf species succeeds the primitive vegetation. By
renewing this purifying process a second and a third time, the soil
finally becomes covered with a species of fern closely resembling our
large Pteris, _Pteris caudata_; and if the spot be once more abandoned,
it is speedily taken possession of by a viscous, grayish, and foetid
species of Gramineæ, well known locally by the name of _Capim gordura_,
to botanists by that of _Tristegis glutinosa_. So boundless a voracity
has this plant, that it wholly expels from certain regions another and
less tenacious variety of the Gramineæ, the _Saccharum_, or _Sapa_. The
_Capim gordura_ constitutes in itself almost the entire flora of the
artificial _campos_. It is but an indifferent fodder, and cattle derive
from it little vigour.
[Illustration: AQUATIC PLANTS OF GUIANA.
1. Victoria regia. 2. Raphia tædigera. 3. Scyndapsus fragrans.]
In general, the natural _campos_ bear a certain resemblance to our
meadows; grass, however, is less abundant; they consist, especially in
the colder localities, of Gramineæ which do not, perhaps, exceed our
British species in dimensions, but differ greatly in the size of their
leaves, and often also in their spreading inflorescence. By their side,
as is the case with us, grow other plants of a more graceful floral
character. Among these are Myrtaceæ, Melastomaceæ, with their capsular
fruits, and a species of Compositæ, called _Veronia_.
[Illustration: VEGETABLE LIFE IN THE PAMPAS.
Pampas Grass (_Gynerium argenteum_).]
The wayfarer who traverses the sterile campos is astonished to discover,
on the tortuous and stunted trees that grow there at rare intervals,
some flowers of a singular loveliness. Yet who can refuse his admiration
from the gorgeous Vochyaceæ; the Malpighiaceæ, richly and handsomely
flowered; the Leguminosæ, with their long hanging clusters of sparkling
blossoms; the trumpet-shaped flowers of the Bignonias, and the superb
_Oochnus_? Nor will he forget a rare _Salvertia_, fragrant as the lily
of the valley, and with its blossoms disposed in thyrses which outvie in
beauty those of the chestnut.
In the genial smiling country which extends from Monte Video to the
mouth of the Rio Negro, the vegetation is almost wholly confined to
Gramineæ. It is in this region that the feathery Pampas Grass (_Gynerium
argenteum_) flourishes luxuriantly, covering leagues upon leagues with
its silvery panicles and drooping leaves, which, when stirred by a
gentle wind, ripple like the slow-moving, spray-gleaming waters of a
sunny sea. It has become of late years a favourite ornament of our
British gardens, and may justly be taken as a type of tender
loveliness.[116] Beyond the Rio Negro the country puts on a wilder
aspect, and it is with difficulty the most adventurous botanist can
penetrate into its recesses.
Nearly all the southern districts of Patagonia form, as we have already
seen, an immense and almost level plain, whose soil is generally dry,
arid, and impeded with large pebbles; the northern districts, on the
other hand, offer a less monotonous landscape, are broken up with rocks
and ravines, interspersed among tolerably fertile pastures, whose flora
has not yet been fully investigated.