liiil
•• ;«■
i l
■'Ji
4 I
tlie periautli, we may iiresumc that they belong to that series of those organs, which are opposite the petals in
decandi'ous AUhieæ and generally suppressed in the pentandi-ons, and that the other series is represented by two
thickened glands, placed between the bases of tlie stamens, rather externally to them, and opposite the two inner
segments of the perianth; they are veiy conspicuous in »S'. (parti, p. 14) and more or less erident in
most species. One of my specimens was provided with 5 stamens, the fifth being opposite one of the larger sepals.
Biiring my examination of the Campbell Island variety, I was led into an error. In it the seeds germinate before
leaving the capsule, and sending their radicles through the receptacle into the pedmiclc, and theii* cotylcdonary
leaves upwards between the valves of the seed-vessel, I described the axis of the capsule or the receptacle of the
seeds as proliferous.
This genus, which I fomerly an-aiiged (following Fenzl.) with ihaPortulacees, I have now included in Ahineoe proper,
from its near affinity with Sagina and Spergula ; the limits between these two orders are so confessedly undefine-
able, that I need scarcely do more than indicate the most remarkable points of similarity between this genus and the
majority of the Portulaeeæ ; which ai*e, the distinctly perigjmous stamina and their being alieniate with the segments
of the perianth. The perigynous insertion of the stamina can hardly be considered foreign to the Alsineæ, for it is
seen in Larbresa, a genus iu all other respects nearly allied to Stellarla, also in CJierleiia and some species of Arenaria
itself, plants which by some have been removed to Portulaceoe, ou no other gromid than iiecause the staminiferous
disc, ( so conspicuous in another form, as the anthophonis of Siîeneæ), aud which probably exists tbi'oughout the
order, is more dilated in these plants. The close affinity of Colobanthus ivith Sagina may be perceived in tlie prevailing
tetramerous aiTangement, and in two of the segments of the perianth being always external and larger than
the others, in the suppression of the petals, and in the perigynous insertion of the stamina, wliich equal the sepals in
nmnber ; the chief difference between them lies in the stamens of the former being alternate with the calycine pieces,
and those of the latter opposite to them. Colobanthus shews a fiu'ther peculiarity in the valves of the capsule being
opposite to the stamens and alternate with the sepals, whilst in Sagina and most other tetrandi'ous or pentandrous
AUineoe, they are opposite both to the stamens aud sepals. Here then the anomaly rests, either in the position of
the valves of the capsule of Colobanthus, the stamens being still considered as belonging to the series opposite the
petals, or in the situation of the segments of the perianth, which if opposite the stamens, would present an airange-
ment of parts exactly like Sagina, where stamens, sepals and valves are all opposite one to another.
Plate XCIII. Fig. 1, portion of stem and pair of leaves; Jig. 2, flower; Jig. 3, the same laid open; Jig. 4, a
flower of the Campbell Island vaiiety ; Jig. 5, ovarium of Falkland Island variety, cut open; Jig. 6, capsule, and
f g . 7 , seed from the same ; f g . 8, the same cut open, shewing the embryo :—all magnifed.
C o lo b a n th u s crassifolins, Hook. fil. ; glaberrimus, cæspitosus, crassiusculus, caulibus pluiimis erectis
ramosis, foliis linearibus obtusis mucronatisve basi vaginantibus, pedunculis folio brevioribus post anthesin
elongatis, fioribns 4-5-meris, perianthii segmentis ovatis v. ovato-lanceolatis obtusis capsulam apice 5-valvem
subæquantibus V . longioribus. Urville in Mém. Soc. L in n . Paris, vol.iv. p . 617. Gaud,
in Freyc. Voy. p. 137. Colobanthus Quitensis, et C. saginoides, BartUng, et Presl, Jieliq. HænJc, vol. ii.
p. 13. t. 49. f. 2.
H a e . Strait of Magalliaens, P o rt Famine ; Capt. King. Flermite Island, Cape Horn i ) . / / . Falkland
Islan d s; D U rv ille , I . D. E .
The figure of tliis plant in the “ Eeliquiæ Hænkianæ” is sufficient for the determination of the species, though
I do not coincide with Bailhng in considering it the Sagina Quitensis of Humboldt and Kunth, which is described as
haring filiform stems and four small bracteæ on the peduncles. Ï have little doubt that the latter plant is a Colohan-
tkus, for the stamens are described to be alternate with the segments of the calyx, but probably a very different species. ’
Specimens of C. crassifolins gathered on the Andes of Chili, have the capsule so much louger than the perianth, as
to entitle them to the rank of a separate variety ; in the more southera examples that organ is seldom much exserted.
The segments of the calyx vary both in length and breadth, as the whole plant does in size. Judging from
Bartling’s description of C. satjitvndes, it is a state of this.
A very rimihn- plant to the above is Galeotti's (n. 4404). from the Peak of Orizaba in Mexico, 12,900 feet ; it
differs only in having the segments of the perianth lanceolate and acuminate.
3. COLOBAXTHDS Kerguelensis, Hook. fil. ; glaberrimus, pulvinatim cæspitosus, caubbus ramosis fobosis,
fobis imbricatis ovatis v. ovato-lanceolatis acutis integerrimis coriaceis, peduncubs plurimis laterabbus e basi
ramorum ortis interdum bibracteolatis, floribus majuscubs foba vix superautibus tetrameris, capsula pro-
fulide 4-valvi. (Ta b. XCII.)
H a b . Kerguelen’s L a u d ; abundant, chiefly near the sea.
Radix gracibs, descendens. subftisifoimis, apice ramos perplurimos emittens. Rami vabdi. dense compacti, 1-2
unc. longi, plm-ies divisi, basi vaginis scariosis foborum obtecti. Tolia plerumque versus apices ramorum imbricata,
i - i unc. louga, suberecta, Imte viridia, uninèrvia, siccitate flavescentia. margine incrassato. Pedunculi A -} unc.
hmgi, ex axflbs foboium sobtarb, erecti, ramo æquilongi, superne incrassati, bilia medium bibracteati, bracteis bne-
aribu’s interdum iiifra-florabbus. PeriaMMum a unc. longum; segmentis ovatis, acutis, concavis. biseriabbus; exteri-
oribiis majoribus, sub 7-nei-vüs ; interioribus angustioribus. Stamina 4, disco carnoso inserta, valvis capsulæ opposita ;
filamentis compressis.bneari-subulatis ; antheris pairis. Ovarium in discum camosum sessile, globoso-ovoideiim, obtuse
angulatum, uniloculare, multiovulatum ; stybs 4, subulatis. divaricatis, intus stigmatiferis ; ovulis circa axin centralem
pla°centiferam cbspositis. CapmU globosa, perianthio æquilonga, ad medium v. ad basin in valvas 4 obtusas peri-
anthb laciniis alternas fissa ; seminibus plurimis, axi centrab demum bbero adnexis ; testa granulata, rufo-fusca.
In tbis species, by far the finest of the genns, the relative position of the parts of the flower is vei-y evident.
The perianth is formed of four pieces, two of them outer, larger, and distinctly embracing the inner ; alternating with
these are the four stamens, analogous to the inner and shorter series, or those opposite the petals in Spergula and Sedurn,
and which are opposite the carpellary leaves in both those genera. Supposing then that the flve petals and ten stamens
of Spergula form three alternating whorls of flve organs each, in tlbs plant the two outer of these whorls are
suppressed; in SaginaprocumherM the inner alone, and in S. apetala the outer and inner.
P l a t e XCII. Pig. 1 . p e d im c le , b r a c t e æ , a n d f lo w e r ; / y . 2 , a f low e r , l a i d o p e n ; / y . 3 , o v a r i u m ; / y . 4 . r e c e p ta
c l e a n d o v u le s , t a k e n fr'om t b e s am e ; / y . 6, a s e e d ; / y . 7, t h e s am e , c u t o p e n , s h o w in g t h e em b r y o a l l magmjied.
4. CoLOBANTHBS diffu-ms, Hook. fil. ; procumbens, diffusus, ramosus, ramis gracibbus, foliis radicalibus
paucis confertis, eaubnis oppositis omnibus carnosiuscubs bneaii-subulatis acutis integerrimis, peduncubs
plurimis fibforimbus strictis plerisque axfllaribus fobis bis longioribus ebracteatis post antbesiu elongatis,
floribus parvis tetrameris, peiiautlfli segmentis ovato-rotundatis marginibus subscariosis, capsula perianthio
bis longiore ad medium 4-valri.
H ab . Amsterdam Island ; Sir G. Staunton, Lieut. A. J . Smith.
Radix fibrosa. Caules tenues, graciles, 3 nnc. longi, diametro Sagina procumbentis. FoUa viridia, 4 Hn. longa,
siccitate subflexnosa, obscine uninèrvia. Flores parri, 1-1-^ imc. longi. Capsula valris obtusis coriaceo-membra-
uaccis, segmentis pcriantliii oppositis.
Xliis is quite a distinct species, its Habit more Hke Sagina procumbens tlian any of the others. I have appended
a description* of another new plant belonging to this genns, but of a very different mode of gi'onlh.
* C. cherlerioides, n. sp.; dense pulvinatim cæspitosus, ramosus, ramis fastigiatis foHosis, foHis pams ai*cte
3 F