Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences . Figure 32.—Tall Palmetto growing in Pembroke Marsh. Phot. 1901. 1009-15, much the greater part relates to the trees and to a few otherplants that had some direct or immediate use. It is now, of course,very difficult to distinguish, in the case of weeds and other incon- 572 .4. E. Verrill—The Berimuhi Islands. spicuous plants, between those subsequently introduced and thosethat were native there before the settlement. Each case must bejudged by itself, taking into account the ])robable chances of naturalintroduction, the manner of o
Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences . Figure 32.—Tall Palmetto growing in Pembroke Marsh. Phot. 1901. 1009-15, much the greater part relates to the trees and to a few otherplants that had some direct or immediate use. It is now, of course,very difficult to distinguish, in the case of weeds and other incon- 572 .4. E. Verrill—The Berimuhi Islands. spicuous plants, between those subsequently introduced and thosethat were native there before the settlement. Each case must bejudged by itself, taking into account the ])robable chances of naturalintroduction, the manner of occurrence, etc. Only very few plants are i)eculiar to the islands, or endemic, andof these the palmetto is the only conspicuous one. (See ch. 26, Figure 33.—Bermtida Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium Berimidianum). figs. 4, 32, 39). Most of the other native plants were derived fromthe West Indies and the North American coastal regions.* When the islands were fiist settled the flora was remarkable forthe scarcity of edible plants. The only herbaceous plant mentioned,that could afford any human food, was the prickly pear or cactus * In naming the native Bermuda plants I have followed pretty closely thenomenclature nsed by Hemsley, in Voy. ChalL, Botany, vol. 1. ^1. E. Verrill—IVie Bermuda Islands. 573 ( Opuntia), which still grows abundantly on the l^arren cliffs by thesea. Its berries were eaten, both raw and cooked, by the early set-tlers. There are no fruits mentioned, except the berries of thepalmetto, cedar, and wild mulberry, although a few shrubs, withmore or less edible berries, siill exist that were probably native.*But the settlers ma}^ not have known that they were edible or theymay have been so scarce that they were o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectscience, bookyear1866
