Captain King Also
Mentions A Beech Which Was Seven Feet In Diameter, Seventeen
Feet Above The Roots.
There is one vegetable production deserving notice from
its importance as an article of food to the Fuegians.
It is a
globular, bright-yellow fungus, which grows in vast numbers
on the beech-trees. When young it is elastic and turgid, with
[picture]
a smooth surface; but when mature it shrinks, becomes tougher,
and has its entire surface deeply pitted or honey-combed,
as represented in the accompanying woodcut. This fungus
belongs to a new and curious genus, [4] I found a second
species on another species of beech in Chile: and Dr. Hooker
informs me, that just lately a third species has been discovered
on a third species of beech in Van Diernan's Land. How singular
is this relationship between parasitical fungi and the trees
on which they grow, in distant parts of the world! In Tierra
del Fuego the fungus in its tough and mature state is collected
in large quantities by the women and children, and is eaten
un-cooked. It has a mucilaginous, slightly sweet taste, with
a faint smell like that of a mushroom. With the exception of
a few berries, chiefly of a dwarf arbutus, the natives eat
no vegetable food besides this fungus. In New Zealand,
before the introduction of the potato, the roots of the fern
were largely consumed; at the present time, I believe, Tierra
del Fuego is the only country in the world where a cryptogamic
plant affords a staple article of food.
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