Fig. 6.—The “Borametz,” or “Scythian Lamb.”
From De la Croix’s ‘Connubia Florum.’
The central figure is a copy of Zahn’s picture of the fabulous plant-animal; the other two are taken from fern-root specimens supposed to be “Vegetable Lambs.”
We must now leave the poetical view of the subject, and come to facts.
The substance of which the artificial animals exhibited by Sir Hans Sloane and Dr. Breyn were constructed is the long root-stock of a fern of the genus Dicksonia, of which there are from thirty to thirty-five species, varying greatly in size, in their mode of growth, and in the cutting of their fronds. Some of them, such as D. antarctica, a native of Australia and New Zealand, often seen in our greenhouses, are tree-like in habit, having stems from ten to forty feet in height, and fronds two or three yards in length, and two feet or more across; whilst others have root-stocks creeping along the surface of the ground. The genus is most fully represented in tropical America and Polynesia: one species extends as far north as the United States and Canada, and another was introduced into this country from St. Helena. In some species, such as D. Molluccensis, from Java, the stems are furnished with strong hooked prickles; in others they are densely clad at the base with a thick coat of yellow-brown hairs, which shine almost like burnished gold. The stems of D. Sellowiana, from tropical America, are so thickly clad with long fibrous hairs, changing to brown or nearly black, that it has been said they precisely resemble the thighs of the howling monkeys.[23]
[23] See ‘European Ferns,’ by James Britten, F.L.S.; with coloured illustrations from Nature, by Dr. Blair, F.L.S. Cassell. London.—A work full of information on the culture, classification, and history of ferns. I am indebted to it for many of the details here given of the economic value of ferns.
The species of Dicksonia which has been supposed to have given origin to the fable of the “Scythian Lamb” has, from that circumstance, received the name of Barometz. It was formerly known as Cibotium glaucescens. It was introduced into cultivation in conservatories in this country about the year 1830, and was shortly afterwards described as Cibotium barometz, but the genus Cibotium is now generally united with Dicksonia. Its long caudex, or root-stock, creeps over the surface of the ground in the same manner as that of the better known “Hare’s-foot” fern, Davallia Canariensis, and this is covered with long silky hairs, or scales, which look something like wool when old and dry. These hairs or scales have been sometimes used as a styptic in Germany, and also, very commonly, in China, as related to Sir Hans Sloane by Dr. Brown. The similar hairs of other species of Dicksonia, natives of the Sandwich Islands, are exported to the extent of many thousands of pounds weight annually under the name of “Pulu,” and are used in the stuffing of mattrasses, cushions, &c. The hairs of D. culcita are similarly utilised in Madeira. No more than two or three ounces of hair are yielded by each plant, and it is reckoned that about four years must elapse before another gathering can be obtained.
The rhizomes and stems of many ferns abound in starch, and have a commercial value, either as medicine or food. The soft mucilaginous pith of Cyathea medullaris, one of the large tree-ferns of New Zealand, was formerly eaten by the natives. It is of a reddish colour, and, when baked, acquires a somewhat pungent flavour. In New Zealand ferns seem to be in some repute for their edible properties, for the large scaly rhizomes of Marattia fraxinea, and those of another fern, Pteris esculenta, nearly allied to our common bracken, P. aquilina, are also eaten by the Maoris. The natives bake them in ashes, peel them with their teeth, and eat them with meat, as we do bread; and sometimes pound them between stones, in order to extract the nutritious matter, the woody part being rejected as useless. In Nepaul, the rhizomes of Nephrolepis tuberosa are similarly prepared for food; and in New Caledonia the mucilaginous matter of Cyathea vieillardii is obtained from incisions made in the stem, or at the base of the fronds. The succulent fronds of the little water-fern, Ceratopteris thalictroides, are boiled and eaten as a vegetable by the poorer classes in the Indian Archipelago. The young shoots of the handsome tree-fern, Angiopteris evecta, are eaten in the Society Islands, and its large rhizome, which is in great part composed of mucilage, yields, when dried, a kind of flour. In the same islands the young fronds of Helminthostachys limulata, the “Balabala” of the Fiji Islands, are eaten in times of scarcity; and the soft scales covering the stipes of the fronds are used by the white settlers for stuffing pillows and cushions in preference to feathers, because they do not become heated, and are thus more comfortable in a sultry climate. In New South Wales, the thick rhizome of Blechnum cartilagineum is much eaten by the natives. It is first roasted and then beaten, so as to break away the woody fibre: it is said to taste like a waxy potato.