3 1 4
This plant is certainly not indigenous to the Southern Hemisphere ; but carried to the Falkland Islands, where
it is widely dispersed.
9. S enecio Kingii, H o o k .fil.; lierbaceus, glaberrimus, caule simpiici brevi decumbente folioso sca-
pigero, fobis petiolatis ad apicem caulis fasciculatis camosis bneari-spathulatis grosse dentatis, scapo erecto
solitario 1-cepbaio fobis 2 -3 subulatis aucto superne puberulo, capitulo late campanulato, involucri squamis
glaberrimis lineari-lanoeoktis disco brevioribus.
H ab. Strait of MagaUiaens, P o rt Famine ; Capt, King.
Caulis 1-3-poUicai-is, teres, crassitie pennæ corrinæ, basi decumbente nudo, apice ascendente folioso, Kolia
perplurima, fasciculata, basi vaginantia et imbricata, 1 - 1^-imcialia, gradatim dilatata, gi-osse serrato-dentata, plana.
Scapus erectus, teres, siccitate sulcatus, 3-4-poUicaris, fobis parvis subulatis fibformibusve auctus. Capitulum
incbnatum, A - | une. longum, late campanulatnm. Imolvcri squamæ bneari-lanccolatæ, glaberrimæ, sub 1-seriales
basi squamubs paucis subulatis suffultæ, disco breriores.
Capt. King’s specimens of this apparently distinct species are the only ones I have ever seen, it is truly sca-
pigerons, abied in habit to the S. trifurcatus. Less., which has radiate flowers, and still more iiemdy to S. critlimoides,
H. and A., of Mendoza, wliicli is suffintescent and branched below.
10. Senecio Arnottii, Hook. fll. ; glaberrimus v. obsolete glanduloso-pubemlus, erectus, suflrutescens,
ramis erectis fobosis simpbcibus, fobis sobtariis subfasciculatisve coriaceis late bnearibus v. oblongo-bneari-
lanceolatis acutis integerrimis marginibus revolutis costa snbter puberula, corymbis terminabbus 4 - 1 2 -
cepbabs, pedicelbs elongatis fobobs subulatis bracteatis, capitulis late campanulatis, involucri squamis
anguste bneari-lanceolatis acnminatis. S. limbardioides, Hooh. et Arn. in Bot. Journ. vol. iii. p. 347.
H a b . Strait of Magalhaens, P o rt Pamine ; Capt. King.
Bami stricti, erecti, petiob pedicebique sub lente pube sparsa obscure glandulosa operti, Kolia 1-lA uno.
longa, 2-3 bn. lata, sessiba, coriacea v. subcaimosula, plana v. plenunque mai-ginibus recurvis, e ramubs axibaribus
abbreriatis fobiferis quasi fasciculata. PediceUi erecti, l|-3-unc iale s, fobis subidatis bnearibusve acuminatis bracteolati.
Capitula unc. longa, latiora quam longa.
Abied to S. littoralis. Gaud., a radiate-flowered species. One specimen from Chiloe, cobected by Mr. Daririn,
has broadly bnear leaves, a few of which shew a tendency to become toothed towards the apex. The name of
S. limtardioides, haring been through inadvertence twice used iu the Botanical Journal (1. c.). I have changed that
of this species.
1 1 . Senecio longipes. Hook. fil. ; glabriusculus v. superne præcipne glanduloso-pubescens, ramis erectis
simpbcibus strictiuscubs, fobis plerisque fasciculatis anguste bnearibus flbformibusve acutis basi attenuatis
apicem versus serratis marginibus revolutis, corymbis 3-7-cepbabs, pedicelbs valde elongatis, bracteolis
subulato-fibformibus, capitubs late campanulatis, involucri squamis 1 -serialibus glandulosis disco
brevioribus.
H a b . Strait of Magalhaens, P o rt Famine ; Capt. King.
Priori afflnis sed gracibor, fobis multoties angustioribus dentatis pedicelbsque valde elongatis.
Ab Capt. King’s specimens agree in possessing much narrower leaves and longer pedicels than the former
species, so that, though probably only varieties of one plant, I am unable to prove them so.
1 2 . S enecio « k e r . Hook. fil. ; snffrnticosus, depressus, pubescenti-viscosus, caule ascendente ramoso
cicatricato, ramis suberectis breviuscubs fobosis, fobis coriaceis subcrispatis anguste bneari-spatludatis irrcgulariter
sinuato-dentatis snbpinnatifidisve, marginibus reflexis, capitubs solitariis binis subcorymbosisve
breviter pedicellatis late campanulatis, involucri squamis anguste lanceolatis disco paulo brevioribus.
H ab . Strait of Magalhaens, P o rt Gregory ; Capt. King.
Caulis bgnosus, crassitie pennæ passerinæ, uncialis. Rami 3-4-polbcares, teretes. Kolia plurima. parva,
i - f unc. longa, undulato-crispata, rix 2 hn. lata, inferne in petiolum angustata. Pedicelli unc. longi, fohohs
bracteolati. Capitula | unc. longa, ) unc. diametro.
Port Gregory is described as suraounded by plains, which are covered irith a short grass, and possess notliing but
a herbaceous vegetation. These features are so different from those of Port Famine, that should the Senecio Arnottii
be identical with 8. longipes, and the latter be transported to this locality, the appearance it would probably assume
is that of 8. miser. That such may be the origin of the present plant is rendered stiU more bkely, from an examination
of Mr. Darwin’s specimens of S. irkuspidatus. Hook., a discoid species, bitberto oifiy gathered high
up the river Santa Cruz in Patagoma. Mi'. Darwin labels two very different looking individuals as belonging
to this same species, the one large and leafy, with leaves broadly bnear. dilated and deeply trifid at the apex,
fuby an inch or an inch and a qnartcr long, and the whole plant equaUy luxuriant with S. Arnottii, the other,
again, has the squabd habit of S. miser, and fobage very similar in size, shape aud texture. Nor is it in habit
and fobage alone that the Smeciones are bable to vary. The difference between some of the discoid and radiate
species is almost confined to the presence or absence of a ray, and this is so remarkably the case, that I have
found an analogue to abnost all the discoid species described above, amongst the radiate, and MM. Hombron and
Jacquinot figure a MageUanic species bearing both radiate and discoid flowers on the same specimen. Now since the
S. Jacotoea of England, and other European species, vaiy in haring or wanting the ligulate florets, so may these of
Patagonia and Fuegia, and thus still further reduce the niunber of species.
I t is worthy of observation that the discoid Seneciones are abnost pecnbar to the drier soil and cbmate of Eastern
Patagonia and Fuegia, only one {S. candidans), an inhabitant of sandy places, being a Fuegian and Falkland Island
species. I nm not prepared to say how far this favours the supposition that the absence of a ray may be
due to causes now in operation, but the same remark appbes to a certain extent to the Seneciones of other countries,
and to the genus Chilktriclmm in Antaretic America.
There are several points connected irith this genus of a much more interesting nature than the variation
of its Protean species; such as the absence of cbaracters in the species indicating natural gi-oups; the scarcity ot
the species in Austraba, which contains scarcely seventy, contrasted with thefr abundance in the Cape which possesses
nearly two hundred ; their absence in the Antarctic Islands south of New Zealand, and thefr forming upwards
ot twice the largest genus of flowering plants in the flora of Fuegia and Patagonia. A still more singular fact is
the confined range * of the individual species, though belonging to one of the very largest genera that has an
universal diffusion. Thus out of tho twenty-one species to be enumerated in tbe present part, not one iirliabits any
other coimtry but extra-tropical South America, except the introduced S. vulgaris. If the species are to be considered
tbe offspring of variation, there must be allowed to Senecio what may be cabed a disposition to vary
centrifiigally, that causes the individiiols to depart fuidher and further from an original one in proportion as the
genus spreads over the earth’s surface. There is not with Senecio, as with the equally widely dispersed (hiapla-
lium, that tendency in tho forms ab comitries present, to revert to a few ti-pic.-d species. The fact of the species of
Senecio in each separate country being almost inextricable, may be cited in favour of variation as an agent producing
what other naturabsts suppose original creations. Ag.iinst this hypothesis, however, it might be lu-ged, that the
S. vulgaris lias shewn no tendency to vary diu-ing the eighty years ivhich have, in ab bkelihood, elapsed since its
first importation into tbe Falkland Islands.
* This is the more remarkable, for Senecio thus forms an exception to a very prevailing law in the animal and
vegetable kingdoms, (first pointed out to me by my friend Mr. Darwin), that the individual species of large and
widely difliised genera have generaUy themselves very wide rairges.