i A.
i ■ í ■:
: Y r
IHI
1 - ti ■
r r
and has been described and figured (in Mus. Banks) as M. rigida. Banks and Sol. MSS. Forster accurately
describes the fiowers of his plant as solitary, most of them being truly so ; but. from its being similar in all
other respects to a plant brought home from New Zealand by Admiral D’Urville, except in the latter having
the flowers in a raceme, M. Richard altered (in his Flora Novæ Zelandiæ, p. 198) the character of Forster.
His species is probably the M. rigida, Banks and Solander, or another nearly allied plant which we possess
from New Zealand.
The M. antárctica is certainly an extreme instance of any of the species having a leafy inflorescence ;
although the genus is generally described as having “ racemus ebracteatus,” there are some European and even
British species, which, in having the lower flowers solitary in the axils of the uppermost leaves removed from the
base of the raceme, show' an evident analogy to the southern ones.
Several of the species of the northern hemisphere, though nearly identical w’ith others of the southern, are
not known to grow within 80 or 90 degrees of latitude of one another. This is the case both in the eastern
and western hemispheres. A very few are inhabitants of the elevated and cold regions of the tropics, under
the equator, where they attain, on the Andes of South America, an altitude of 12,000 feet. In the old world
the present species represents the southern limit of the genus ; especially as, from the elevation it attains in
Uampbell’s Island, it may be supposed capable of existing a t tbe level of the sea in a much higher southern
latitude.
P late XXXVIII. Fig. 1, flower ; fig. 2, corolla laid open ; fig. 3, ovaria ; fig. 4, stamen ; fig. 5, calyx with
ripe fruit ; fig. G, back, a i id /y . 7, front view of an achænium ; fig. 8, transverse section o f an achænium ; fig d,
embryo removed ;— all magnified.
XXII SCROPHULARINEÆ, Juss.
1. V E R O N IC A , X.
I . V e r o n ic a elliptica, F o r s t ; fru tico sa v. a rb u scu la, ram u lis obscure bifariam albo-puberulis,
foliis d ecu ssatis h o riz o n ta lite r p a te n tib u s ellipticis oblongis oblongo-lanceolatis v. obovato-oblongis
a c u tis V. m u c ro n a tis ra riu s o b tu sis coriaceis g lab ris aveniis ma rg in ib u s in te rd um ciliatis costa su b tu s
p rom in u la u ltr a apicem p ro d u c ta ju n io rib u s rem o te c ren a to -se rra tis , racemis axillaribus b revibus
ra riu s corymboso-ramosis p au c i-(4 -IO)-flo ris, calycis laciniis ovatis acu tis v. acumin atis tu b o corollæ
pau lo b rev io rib u s, corolla ma ju scu la alb a v. carnea, capsulis la te ovatis.—Forst. P ro d r . n. 10. et in
A . Richard, Flor. Nov. Z e l. p . 189. A . Cunn. P ro d r . in A n n . N a t. H is t. vol. i. p . 458. V. decussata,
A i t. H a rt. Kew. vol. i. p . 3 1 . Bims, B o i. M a g . t. 242, et auctorum. V . d ecussata, /3, B a n k s and
B o l M S S .
H a b . L o rd A u ck lan d ’s g ro u p an d Cam p b ell’s I s la n d ; m a rg in s o f woods n ea r th e sea, ab u n d an t.
This is a very well-known plant in our gardens, introduced from the Falkland Islands, and is one of the
most antarctic trees, both in this longitude and in th a t of extreme Southern America, there reaching the 57th
parallel of latitude. It was first collected in New Zealand by Forster, its original discoverer, in Dusky Bay,
where it has since been found by Anderson and Menzies. I believe it however to have been noticed before
as a native of the Straits of Magalhaens, by the older navigators.
In combining the V. decussata Ait. with V. elliptica, I have followed the unpublished opinion of Dr.
Solander. In the British Museum there are drawings of the latter plant by Forster, New Zealand specimens
collected probably by th a t author, and notes by Dr. Solander. The specimens alluded to are in fruit only, and
agree in the foliage with the figures, which represent it in its flowering state. Dr. Forster’s own liandwriting
(of V. elliptica) is on the same sheet with it ; but another plant, V. Menziesii, Benth, MSS., has been fastened
down on the paper at a future period, and the habitat “ New Zealand, Dusky Bay, Gul. Anderson,” is written
■ on the back, a station probably applying to the latter specimen alone. Solander's handwriting, of V. decussata,
¡3, at the bottom of the sheet, applies to both, as in his manuscript he quotes both Forster and Anderson for the
species. I am thus particular in alluding to the British Museum specimens, because there is a discrepancy between
the plant of Forster as described by him, and our own, according to Hs MS. description, published by
M. A. Richard, I. c„ where the tube of the corolla is described as being twice the length of the calycine segments,
and the latter as subulate. In all our specimens, both from Lord Auckland and Campbell's Islands, as also in
those of Antarctic America, the tube of the coroUa is a little longer than the calyx, sometimes as much as one-
third. but it appears even more so before tbe expansion of the corolla ; and by subulate that author might liave
alluded to the acuminated apex which the segments sometimes have. Though Forster's drawing does not exhibit
the calyx, it coincides too closely with the preserved specimen, and both with our plant, to leave any doubt in my
mind that we have here another instance of the similarity of the vegetation of the higher latitudes. Dr. Solander
indeed considers the New Zealand plant as a different variety from the Southern American, and in his MSS.
description of the southern species, to which I have access through the kindness of Mr. Brown, he separates the
former as " ft. floribus carneis (Forster), ramis glabriusculis. Frutex sesquipedalis.” In Forster s drawing the
mineral white used to colour the flowers has become discoloured, and the pink aUuded to by Dr. Solander
almost obscured ; in our specimens they are of a pure mUk-white when fresh. The want of down on the branches
arises from age.
In Lord Auckland’s group this species attains a much larger size than it does in America, there seldom
exceeding four feet in height, whilst Forster describes the Dusky Bay tree as twelve feet, and I have seen it as
much as thirty on the margins of the woods close to the sea, where it may be readily distinguished by its pale
green foliage and erect branches. I saw but one specimen in fuU flower, growing on an inaccessible rock
overlooking Rendezvous Harbour ; from a distance it seemed powdered with white flowers.
In New Zealand this genus is one of the most extensive of flowering plants, containing no less than
twenty-five species, of which four-fiftlis are shrubby or arborescent. Of these, ten were originally discovered
by Sir J . Banks and Dr. Solander during their visit to these islands, and are described in the MSS. above
alluded to. Under one of them, the V. macrocarpa, Dr. Solander dwells upon that peculiarity in the structure
of the fruit which sepai'ates many of them from the European forms of the genus ; he WTites, “ Hæc, et quinqué
sequentes, (F . salicifolia. myrtifolia, stricta, puhescens, parviflora,) a reliquis Veronicis differunt, corolla subrm-
gente et capsula apice integra acutiuscula, ut fere proprium constituant genus.” Mr. Brown (Prodr. p. 434)
dwells more at length on this peculiarity, explaining the structure and its modifications, and further using it as
a sectional character.
The extreme difficulty of determining the species of this section was also alluded to by Dr. Solander, who
continues in the MSS. above quoted, “ valde affines sunt, ut differentia specifica difiicillime eruatur, præcipue
si specimina sicca consuhmtur; nec ilia sine capsulis distinguere possihile est. Plantæ autem vivæ habitu discrepant,
facillimeque tunc dlgnoscuntur, ut aliiis species esse distinctas credam.” 1 his difficulty has not been
a little increased by the accession of new species, similar to the above in form ; and the whole genus is now so
large as to require a complete remodelling ; this is expected from the pen of Mr. Bentham, to whom I am
indebted for the discrimination of my species. As his remarks bear reference to all the Auckland and Campbell’s
Island species, 1 shall avail myself of his kind permission to give the definition of the sections under which they
will be arranged. “ For this section,” Mr. Bentham says, “ I adopt as sectional Jussieu’s name of Hebe,
with the character ; capsula septicido-bipartibilis, carpellis dorso breviter intus profunde bifidis. Placentæ
stipitatæ. Folia crassiuscula, nitida, glaberrima, omnia opposita. Racenii axillares, v. ad apices ramorum corymbosi,
V. paniculati. Corollæ tubus latitudine vix longior v. rarius brevissimus.” Of this section there are five
subsections, almost wholly composed of New Zealand species ; under the second of these, this and the two follow