■M
12,689 feet, according to Dr. Royle (Illust. Plant. Himmal. vol. i. pp. 22 and 278). In Ceylon a species has
been gathered at between 6000 and 8000 feet of elevation. One species, G. prostrata, H. B. K., has a most extraordinary
range, both in longitude and latitude ; in southern Europe it inhabits the Carinthian Alps, between
6000 and 9000 feet high ; in Asia it has been found on the Altai mountains about lat. N. 52°. Its American
range is much more remarkable, it having been gathered on the tops of the Rocky Mountains in lat. 52° N,,
where they attain an elevation of 15,000-16,000 feet, and on the east side of the Andes of South America in
35° S. : it descends to the level of the sea at Cape Negro ; in the Straits of Magalhaens in lat 53° S. ; and at
Cape Good Hope in Behring’s Straits, la t 6SJ° N.
The fact of the occurrence, and the great number, of species of Gentiana inhabiting only the more elevated
regions of the temperate and tropical zones, and there reaching the snow limit, renders it very remarkable that
they should he so proportionally scarce in the higher latitudes both of the northern and southern hemisplieres.
Generally speaking, the inhabitants of these elevated and cold regions are species of such Natural Crders and
genera as compose the mass of the Polar vegetation. It is so to a great extent with certain groups of Rannn-
culacex, of Graminex, Caryophyllex, Cnciferx, Ericex, &c. &c., but not with Gentianeoe-, the proportion which
the species of the transition temperate zones bear to the other plants of those regions on the one hand, and to
the tropical species of the same genus on the other, is in both cases remai-kably small. They are entirely
unknown to the Floras of the Polar American Islands ; very few inhabit Greenland. Iceland, or the Arctic seashores
in the North, or Tasmania, New Zealand, Fuegia, or the Antarctic Islands in the South ; and again in
other parts of N. Europe and America, or of Chili and Patagonia, they are infinitely less numerous than in the
Alps of Middle and South Europe, or the Andes of the equator.
P l a t e XXXVL Fig. 1. flower ; fig. 2. corolla ; fig. 3. stamens ; fig. 4, ovarium all magnified.
XXL BORAGINEÆ, Juss.
1. M y o so t is ca p ita ta , Ho o k . fil. ; radice p e ren n i m u ltic au li, cau lib u s validis a sc en d en tib u s
foliosis pilosis pilis p a te n tib u s, foliis lineari-oblongis v. su b sp a th u la tis o b tu sis s u p ra sericeo-pilosis
ra riu s su b h isp id is su b tu s pilis laxioribus glab riu scu lisv e , racemis c a p ita tis densifloris simplicibus v.
co n ju g atis foliis su p remis b rev io rib u s, calyce cylindraceo, corollæ tu b o te re te calycem ^ su p e ran te
limbi lobis p lan iu scu lis ro tu n d a tis . (Ta b . X X X V I I .)
H-a b . L o rd A u ck la n d ’s g ro u p ; on gravelly b an k s n e a r th e m a rg in s o f th e woods, close to h ig h -
wate r ma rk .
Radix crassa, elongata, 2-3-polllcaris, diametro pennæ anatinæ, horizontalis et descendens, per totam longitudinem
fibras crassas, simplices vel fibrillosas emittens, fusco-nigra, ad apicem hi- tri-multiceps, reliquiis foliorum
vetustorum subsquamosa. Caules siraphces, ascendentes, rarius lateralibus prostratis, apicibus tantum
erectis, crassi, 4 unc. ad spithamæam longi, X unc. lati, teretes, pilosi, pilis mollibus, patentibus, hic illic
densis, foliosi. Folia plurima, radicalia. seu caulibus abbreviatis fasciculata, patentia. lineari-oblonga, obtusa
rarius basi attenuata et spathulata, lX-2 unc. longa, 4-6 lin. lata, plana, medio uninèrvia, venis lateralibus reticulatis,
obscuris, supra pilosa, pihs appressis, suhsericeis, simplicibus, albidis, vetustiora scabriuscula pilis basi globoso
incrassatis, subtus glabra vel parce pilosa, pilis laxis, mollibus, undique patentibus, basi glabra, lata, semi-
amplexicaulia, marginibus ciliatis. caulina minora, suberecta v. recurva, basi marginibus membranaceis, suprema
plerumque racemum superantia. Racemus terminalis, breviter pedunculatus, solitarius, simplex vel furcatus,
interdum conjugatus, in capitulum circinatum volutus, pluriflorus, ebracteatus. Flores conferii, erecti,
breviter pedicellati, pedicellis hirsutis sub lineam longis. Calyx elongatus, cylindraceus, 1 | lin. longus, hirtus,
lobis elongatis, lineari-oblongis, obtusis, obscure 3-nerviis. Corolla hypocrateriformis ; tubus elongatus, teres,
rectus, eolyce sub x longior ; limhus explanatus, lobis rotundatis, venosis, intense cyaneis, alabasteis rubns ; faux
glandulis fomicatis, medio superne emarginatis fere elausa. Stamina 5, inclusa, apicibus solummodo antherarum
exsertis. filamentis brevibus. Nuculoei, basifixæ, immaturæ late ovatæ. acutæ, plano compressæ, dorso convex-
iusenlæ, intns medio obscure cariuatæ, marginibus acutis, suh-aucipitibus, periearpium subcrustaceum, tenue,
fuscum. Stylus elongatus, gracilis, stigmate clavato, obtuso, exserto terminatus.
This is a very pretty species, though not quite so handsome as its near congener. M. alpestris, Sclim., from
which it differs at first sight in the smaller corollas, which are of a deep violet-blue, as in Jli. Azonca. H. 'iVats.
It may I think he distinguished from any of the species of this difficult genus by the dense capitate racemes,
together with tlie narrow calyces and calycine segments and the long tube of the corolla. Another allied species,
the M fulva Hook, and Am., which inhabits the west coasts both of extratropical North and South America,
chiefly differs from this in the shorter tube of the white coroUa. and in the calyces being densely covered with
silky fulvous or pale brown hairs.
P late XXXVII. Fiy. 1, a flower , fig. 2, corolla laid open ; fig. 3, young achænia and style ; fig. 4, dorsal,
and fig. 5, anterior view of achænia nearly mature all magnified,.
2 . M y o so t is a n tá rctica . H o o k . fil. ; parvula, cæ sp ito sa , ca u lib u s p lu r im is c on fer tis p ro stra tis
V. a s c en d en tib u s fo lio sis, fob is ob o v a to -o b lo n g is su b h isp id o -p ilo sis b a si la tis , flo r ib u s raris in a x illis
fo lio rum supe r io rum so lita riis b r ev iter p ed ic e lla tis, c a ly c is s e gm en tis lin ea r i-su b u la tis o b tu s is , corollæ
tu b o c a ly c e b is lo n g io r e lim b o p a ten te . (T a b . X X X V I I I .)
H a d . C am p b e ll’s I s la n d ; on th e deb r is a t th e b a s e o f p r e c ip ic e s in th e m o st e x p o s ed p la c e s
a lo n g w ith Cardamine stellata, and in c le fts o f r o ck on th e v e ry sum m its o f th e m o u n ta in s.
Radix perennis, brevis, subfusiformis. descendens, aterrima, multiceps, copiosissime fibrosa, fibris ramosw
fasciculatis. Caules plurimi, abbreviati, 1 unc. longi vel breviores, undique patentes, subrigidi, parce ramosi,
foliosi, interiores ascendentes, vetustiores prostrati, emortui anni præteriti longiores. Folia conferta, basi
interdiim imhricata, horizontaliter patentia, subooriacea, obovato-ohlonga, obtusa, inferiora et radicaba majora,
vix unc. longa, 2-4 lin. lata, supra medium uninèrvia, suhhispido-pilosa, pilis albidis appressis, subtus glabn-
U«c1la, pilis paucis. laxis, patentibus, versus basim latam glabra, marginibus ciliatis, vetustiora pilis sparsis, rigidis,
basi globoso-incrassatis, demum deciduis obsita. Flores 4 - 6 . parvi, inconspicui. vix racemosi, terminales solummodo
in spioam nudam dispositi, 3 -4 inferiores in axillis foliorum snpremorum solitarii, suhsessiles v. breviter
pedicellati, plerumque inter folia occlusi. Calyx cylindraceus, segmentis coroUa X brevioribus, X hn. longis,
pilosis pilis elongatis, fructiferis subfoliaceis. Corollæ tubus cylindraceus, elongatus, limbo explanato, lobis
concalis, obovato-rotundatis, azureis. venosis. Stamina i-, filamentis brevibus, incurvis, subulatis: antheris
majusculis. Ovaria 4, parva, sessUia. Stylus filiformis, stigmate simplioe clavato terminatus. Nuculoe 4,
unico V. pluribus abortivis, valde compressæ. ancipites v. subbialatoe. ovatæ, acutæ, dorso convexiusculæ, iiitus
planiores, medio subcarinatæ. Periearpium tenue, crustaceum. atrum, nitidum, læve. Testa membranacea.
Embryo majusculus, compressus ; radícula parva, supera; cotyledonibus majusculis, plano-convexis.
This is a very small species, typical of a liigli latitude and rigorous climate, preferring also those localities
where few other plants but lichens and mosses can exist. It is remarkable as belonging to a small section of
the genus apparently confined to the islands of New Zealand, of which the M. spathulata. Forst., is the type.
These have many of the lower flowers solitary in the axils of the uppermost leaves, and the true ebraoteate
raceme reduced to a very short and few-flowered spike.
The leaves of several of the New Zealand species of Boragineoe so closely resemble one another in form,
that unless good flowering specimens are examined, Uvo genera may easily be considered as belonging to one
and the same plant. Such are a species of Exarrhena, Br., and the M . spathulata oi A. Richard. The latter
is a very distinct plant from either M. capitala or M. antárctica, as also from the true spathulata of Forster,
I