Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/21

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Jan.]
OF LA PEROUSE.
15

have broiled it, as we had afterwards an opportunity of seeing.[1]

The south-west wind, which had been preceded by a great descent of the quicksilver in the barometer, blew in the afternoon in violent gusts, which brought on rain just as we reached the seashore near South Cape. Fortunately a shrub of the rutaceous family afforded us an excellent shelter by its bushy thickness. This shrub grows vigorously on these heights, notwithstanding its being exposed to all the impetuosity of the violent winds that prevail on these coasts.

To this new genus I have given the name of mazeutoxeron.

The calyx is bell-shaped, and four-toothed.

The petals are attached to the bottom of the calyx.

The stamens, eight in number, are fixed to the receptacle.

The germen is oval. The style is not quite so long as the stamens. The stigma has four divisions.

  1. This species of sea-wrack, we are informed, is eaten both in Scotland and Ireland, sometimes fresh, as a sallad; but more frequently it is dried, rolled together, and chewed as tobacco. In the Isle of Sky it is used as a medicine.—Translator.

The