. iI
I^- -'i
I
12 FLORA ANTARCTICA.
(though described as one-celled) are in reality didymous and 2-celled; they first open down each side and then
across the connectivum a t the top, always remaining partially 2-celled. filaments often very long, half an inch
and upwards. The styles are slso slender, and when highly magnified exhibit throughout their length minute
papill®. Ovary (or female flower) 2—4-celled, pedicellate. The flowers are generally solitary ; the males in the
axils of the upper, and the females in those of the lower leaves, with a small abortive leaf-bud in the opposite
axil.
IX. MYRTACEriE, Hi-.
1. M e t r o s id e r o s (Agalmanthus) lucida ; arb o rea , foliis oppositis p e tio la tis ellipticis u trin q u e
acum in a tis in teg errim is g lab errimis coriaceis rigidis enerviis inferne g lan d u lo so -p u n c ta tis {glandulis
luteis) m a rg in ib u s revolutis, floribus 3 -5 ad apices ram u lo rum b rev ite r p ed u n cu la tis umbellatis, calyce
tu rb in a to sericeo, lobis la te ovatis su b a cu tis, petalis obovato-oblongis sp a th u la tisv e calycis limbo
d u p lo lo n g io rib u s apice ciliatis, filamentis petalo su b trip lo lo ngioribus.—M e n z . M S S . in H erb. Hook.
A . Rich. FL N o v. Z ea l. p. 333. A . Cunn. P ro d r . Fl. N o v. Z ea l. L c. vol. iii. p . 114. M. um b e lla ta , Cav.
7c. vol. iv. tab . 3 3 7 . ¿n Dees’« C^c/. vol. xxiii. DeC. P r o d r .y o X .iii.p . 225. A g alm an th u s umb
e lla tu s, Hoinbr. e t Jacq. Voy. au Pol. S u d , B o t. ta b . 1. sine descript. Mela leuca luc ida, F orst.
P ro d r. n. 216.
H a b . L o rd A u ck lan d ’s g ro u p ; from th e sea to an a ltitu d e of 5 0 0 feet. A b u n d a n t. (N o t seen
in Campbell’s Islan d .)
Originally discovered by Sir J . Banks and Dr. Solander at Totarra nui in the North Island of New Zealand,
and a very fine drawing of it, made during Captain Cook’s first voyage, is preserved in the British Museum.
I t was again found by Forster during Cook’s second voyage, in Dusky Bay, and by him first published.
Mr. Menzies also gathered it at the latter locality. I am at a loss to conceive how the specimens came into
the possession of Felix Nefe, from whose collection Cavanilles figured and described the plant under the name
of Metros, umbellata, as a native of Port Jackson. The figure given by the latter author is very characteristic,
except that the peduncles are represented as too long and slender. In the plate accompanying the late French
expedition of Admiral D’Urville, the sketch of the entire plant does not do justice to that which constitutes the
largest tree on Lord Auckland’s group, and the most abundant, skirting the whole line of sea-coast with a broad
belt of evergreen flat-topped forest wood. The single trees are from 20-40 feet high, inclined, with trunks
2-3 feet in diameter, often flattened, seldom erect, covered with a pale reddish bark, which flakes off like that
of the birch. From the trunks and lower branches there are often sent out large tufts of dry root-like processes,
which run along the surface, and are covered with a loose thick and spongy light brown cuticle. The
branches are spreading and ascending, from the inclemency of the climate and violence of the wunds forming
stag-headed trees, whose tops are perfectly flat, as if cut w'ith a scythe. The ultimate branches, which bear a
few leaves, are angular and covered with a loose white papery cuticle, which turns yellow in drying. The leaves
are of a lurid but shining green, more yellow on the under surface, and there covered with large yellow glands.
Petals when young white with red tips, in the more expanded state crimson, as are the stamens. The inflorescence
in this, as in all other New Zealand species, is in umbels or corymbs. ITie Myrtacea, which in North
America do not attain a higher latitude than 26°, and in Europe only one reaches the 46th degree, in the southern
regions are amongst the most Antarctic plants, being most abundant in Tasmania, lat. 42-44° S . ; in New
Zealand, throughout the islands as far as 50^° S., and in South America accompanying other plants as far as
56° S., where th a t continent terminates in the South Polar Ocean.
X. PORTULACEzE, Juss.
1 . M o ^ t iA fo n fa n a , L . DeC. P ro d r . vol. iii. p. 362. M. linearifolia, D ’Urv. F L In s . M a i. 1. c.
vol. iv. p . 619. M. lamp ro sp erma, Cfiamisso inLinnc ea, vol. vi. p. 565. t. 7.
H.4.B, L o rd A u ck lan d ’s g ro u p a n d Cam p b ell’s Is la n d s ; in m o ist places n e a r th e sea, ab u n d a n t.
This is a very variable plant and an exceedingly common one in the southern regions. The specimens from
the various Antarctic islands vary much in size, in the form of the leaf, in the number of the stamens, and in the
number and nature of the surface of the seeds. Those of the Auckland and Campbell’s Island specimens agree
with the figure quoted of Charaisso’s M . lamprosperma, but they are not larger than the seeds of European specimens.
The Falkland Islands, form again has the seeds very large with a black tuberculated shining testa,
agreeing in the latter character with those of Kerguelen’s Land, which are however smaller. In the Peruvian
plant the seeds are very small, but covered and almost echinate with crowded elevated linear tubercles. Those
of the English plant are not constant in size, but the testa is generally more opake and not remarkably
tuberculated. It is difiicult to find a more widely distributed ph®nogamic plant than this, especially in the
southern hemisphere, where it generally accompanies the Callitriche verna. In New Zealand and in Peru it
inhabits a more elevated region. According to Boissier, it attains in Spain an altitude of 5000-7000 feet. In
the Highlands of Scotland it ascends to 3000 feet, and reaches as far north as Iceland and Siberia in Europe
and Asia. Though universally distributed over all the temperate parts of these two continents, and in the south,
it appears to be singularly rare in North America, being hitherto detected only in Labrador, Greenland (whose
Flora presents more European peculiarities than any other part of America east of the Rocky Mountains), Sitka
and the Oregon.
I . CoLOBANTHUs s u b u l u t u s dense p u lv in a tu s n itid u s , cau lib u s ram o sis foliosis, foliis arete
im brica tis s tric tis rigidis su b u la tis coriaceis su p ra canaliculatis b a s i scarioso-m embrana ceis v ag in an tib
u s apicibus subpiliferis, floribus te rm in a lib u s solitariis, p ed u n c u lis folio b rev io rib u s, sepalis 4 -5
e rectis inaequalibus lanceola tis s tria tis p u n g en tib u s , stam in ib u s 4 -5 filamentis basi in an n u lum p e -
rig y n um coalitis, capsula 4 -5 -fid a .— S ag in a su b u la ta , D ’Urv. F l. In s. M a i. I. c. p . 618. S. muscosa,
sq u arro sa e t y . laricifolia, Sol. M S S . in Herb. M a s. B r i t . Colob. B en th am ian u s , F en zl, M S S . in
E n d l. A ta k t. t. 49 . A n n . Wien. M u s. t4 9 .
H a b . C am p b ell’s I s la n d ; in ro u n d ed tu fts on rocks n e a r th e sum m its o f th e hills, a lt. 1000 feet.
Caules 1 - 1 | poUicares, ramosi, fastigiati, glaberrimi. Folia 1^-2 lin. longa, pallide viridi-straminea, erecto-
patentia, basi connata. Pedunculi | lin. longi, subangulati, validi. Perianthium folia vix superans et iis immer-
sum, basi truncatum ; sepalis basi incrassatis. In nostris exemplaribus 5, quorum 2 exterioribus paulo majoribus,
3 interioribus imbricatis. Stamina 5, rarius 4, manifeste perigyna, perianthii foliolis altema ; filamentis compressis,
subulatis; antheris ovalibus. Ovarium ovatum, disco perigyno insertum, 1-locuIare, sub 5-ovulatum.
Siyli 4 -5. Stigmata ILneari-clavata, intus glandulosa. Capsula ad medium 5-fida v. 4-5-partita, chartacea;
segmentis obtusis, perianthio persistente inclusa. Semma 3-4, angulata, subreniformia, compressa ; testa pallide
brunnea, subtilissime granulata.
Of rare occurrence, and confined to the tops of the hills in Campbell’s Island ; nowhere seen in Lord Auckland’s
group. In the Falklands, and in Fuegia, where it was discovered by Banks and Solander, it is very common,
both on the low grounds and on the mountains. I have followed Fenzl and Endlicher in placing this genus in
Portulacea, though I must confess that to me it appears too closely allied to Caryophylles, and especially