H a b . ComiBon in various parts o f th e Islan d , Circular Heiid, Hobarton, K in g and Flinders’ Islands,
in B a ss’ Straits, G um , etc.— (H . N o v .) (y. v .)
D i s t r i b . N ew Zealand.
A tall, but generally slender Nettle, a good deal resembling a common European one in genera! appearance,
but \viih glabrous leaves. I owe its identification witli the plant of Poiret to my friend M. Weddell.— S im s erect,
nearly glabrous, with a few, long, stinging hairs, which are however more numerous on the petioles. Stipules lanceolate
or obloug. Leaves extremely variable in form and size, fi'ora broadly ovate to narrow-linear, membranous,
deeply toothed, acuminate, often cordate at the base ; petiole 1 -3 inches long. Flowers clustered on numerous
spikes. Achenia enclosed in the outer lai-ger leaflets of the perianth, or in other cases the perianth forms a tubular
sheath t o the achenium.
Gen. I I . PAKIE TARLV, Tourn.
Flores polygami, axiilares, fasciculati v. cymosi, involucrati. F l . m a s c . P e ria n th ium 4 -.5-ph yllum .
S tam in a 4 - 5 . F l . fcem . P e ria n th ium tubulosum, veiitricosum, 4 -fidum. Ovarium liberum, perianthio
inc lusum ; stigm ate capitulato, sessili v. subse ssili.— H erbæ sttp iu s d iffu sa ; foliis a lte rn is, e x stipu la tis.
A small genus of weedy plants, growing in various parts o f the tropics, and warmer latitudes of the globe ;
many species have been made of its vaiious forms, but these are reduced by M. Weddell to two or three, and
amongst them my P . squalida, which he has rightly determined to be only a starved state of the ubiquitous P .
debilis, Eorst. P . debilis is au excessively variable plant, found in all warm parts of the globe, and is sometimes
no larger than Australina pusilla, aud at others forms a tall, erect, spreading, ramous herb, with an almost woody
stem at the base, and leaves 2 inches long. The Tasmanian foi-m is a diffuse, pubescent, starved-looking weed, with
numerous, divaricating, slender branches, 6 -1 0 inches long, and small, entire, petioled, membranous leaves, 4 - 4
ineh long, quite entire, ovate or ovato-rotundate. Flowers polygamous, in axillary, clustered, dense-flowered
cymes, minute, green, and vei-y inconspicuous, smrounded by a two- to fom--leaved involucre, composed of connate
bracteolæ. M a l e with a fom--cleft, pilose perianth, and as many stamens. F em a l e broadly ovate or ventricose.
Ovary comj)ressed, o f the same form as the perianth, with a minute, very short, terminal style, and small, bnish-
like stigma. (Name irom p a rie s, a wall ; in allusion to the usual habitat of the European speeies.)
1. Parietaria debilis (Forst. P rodr. n. 3 8 7 ) ; floribus paucis axillaribus subsessilibus, involucris
2 -4 -fo iio la tis, 1 -3 -flo r is .— F l. iV. Z ea l. i. 2 2 6 ; WeddeU in Ann. Sc. N a t. ser. iv. 6. 2 0 9 . P . Floridana,
R u tta li, Gen. N . Am . P la n ts , ii. 2 0 8 . P . micrantha. L e d . F l. AU. iv. 3 5 6 . P . appendiculata, W'ebb,
P h yto g . Canariens. Freyera humifusa, A . Gay, Fl. Chil. v. 3 6 6 , 1 0 3 1 .
Yar. s q u a lid a ; depauperata, caule basi ligne sc ente, ramis divaricatis, foliis parvis breve petiolatis late
ovatis rotundatisve.— P . squalida, Rob. in L on d. Journ. P o t. vi. 2 8 5 . [Gunn, 8 8 6 .)
H a b . Launceston and Spring Bay, Gunn. Yar. fl. N ea r th e sea, on th e north coast o f the Islan d ;
Circular H ead and Georgetown, Gunn.— (Fl. Oct.)
D i s t r i b . T h roughout extratropical Australia, N ew Zealand, the Himalaya Mountains, and P eninsula
o f In d ia ; Central Asia, Levant, P or tugal, th e Canary Islands, Madeira, extratropical N o r th and South
America.
Gen. I I I . AUSTEaALINA, Qaud.
Flores monoici. M a s c . axiilares, ad apicem pedunculi e longati solitarii v. bini,
voluce llum cochleare. Stamen 1. F l . f oe m . axiilares, subsessiles, solitarii v . 2 - 3 .
forme, compressura, achenium amplectens, ore minimo ; s ty lo elongato exserto.— Herbæ ten e lla , p r o s tr a ta
V. subere cta ; foliis a lte rn is , s tip u la tis v. e x stip u la tis, grosse cren atis d en ta tisve .
This curious little genus consists of a very few South Afl-ican, Abyssinian, Australian, and New Zealand plants.
Tlie Tasmanian A . p usilla is a sraaU, loosely tufted, deep green, membranous herb, growing in shady places, with
slender, prostrate, creeping, slender stems, 3 -6 inches long, pubescent ivith reflexed hairs. Leaves petioled, about
4 inch broad, rounded or rounded-ovate, with a few broad blunt crenatures. Male flowers terminating short
decurved axiUary peduncles, usually solitary, consisting o f a minute, broad, shallow, concave, pilose, bilobed perianth,
containing a comparatively long stamen. Female flowers minute, axillary, very shortly pedieelled, consisting
o f an extremely compressed elliptic perianth, with a Iinear-oblong bract at its base, minute mouth, and ciliated
margins. F istil stipitate, its style and stigma exserted. The New Zealand A . Nova-Zelandia, which I had distinguished
by its smaUer bract to the female flower (which is sometimes bractless), is, I am now disposed to think,
only a variety o f A. pusilla. (Name from having been discovered in Australia.)
1. Australina pusilla (Gaud. B o t. Yoy. Uran. 3 0 5 , e t in Yoy. B onite , t. cxiv. A) ; pusilla, caulibus
retrorsum puberulis, foliis minimis rotundato-ovatis grosse crenatis, perianthio masc. bilob o ; fl. ?
bracteola oblonga lineari.— W e d d e ll in Ann. Sc. N a t. ser. 4 . i. 2 1 2 . A. Tasmanica, Nob. M S S . in F l. N .
Z ea l. i. 2 2 6 . A . Novæ-Zelandiæ, Nob. in Fl. N . Z eal. i. 2 2 6 . Urtica pusilla, P o ir . E n cy cl. iv. 2 2 4 .
[Gunn, 8 8 7 .)
H a b . Circular Head and banks o f th e Acheron, Gunn.— (Fl. Dee .)
D i s t r i b . South-eastern Australia aud N ew Zealand.
N a t . O b d . LX X IV . CUPULIFERÆ.
The total absence o f any o f the prevalent genera o f th is Order, exc ep t Fagus, in th e temperate regions
o f the Southern hemisphere, is in some respects a remarkable anomaly in geographical distribution, for
there are few or no N a tu ra l Families o f equal ex ten t in number o f genera and species, and th a t range as
th is does from th e subarctic regions to the level o f the sea under the Equator, that are not continued into
th e south temperate continents. The range o f th e only very large genus o f th e Order, Ouercus, has beeu
only recently approximately known, and its extension iu great abundance into the h o t humid regions of
the Malayan P en in su la and Archipelago demonstrated. I t however scarcely crosses the Equator in the
Old YYorld, nor does it in the American continent, where it is n o le ss abundant in the northern tropics, but
there almost exclusively inhabits the cooler mountainous r egions o f the Cordillera. I n Africa, again, the
C u p u life ra arc found nowhere south o f Algeria, where they are rare.
Under th ese circumstances, the reappearance o f th e northern genus Fagus in th e mountains o f South
Chili and F u egia, N ew Zealand and Tasmania, and n o t in the Cordillera o f Pe ru, the Australian Alps, or
anywhere within 4 0 ° o f the Equator, either in the north or sou th hemispheres, is an extraordinary fact.
A gain , the c lose similarity between the Bee che s o f the southern hemisphere, their marked dissimilarity from
those o f the northern hemisphere, their being confiued to the alpine or colder regions o f the three most
southern masses o f land iu the globe, are amongst the strongest proofs o f there b e in g a closer botanical
relationship between th e se lauds than those to the uorthivard o f them respectively present. The evergreen
Fagus Cunninghamii, Ho ok ., is strictly the representative o f the F. M en zie sii, H .f., o f the N ew Zealand
A lps, and o f F . betuloides, Mirh., o f F u e g ia ; whilst the deciduous-leaved F. Gunnii, H .f., is in lik e luanner
the representative o f F. A n ta rc tica o f Fuegia, b u t has no analogue in N ew Zealand ; for it is a curious fact,
that whereas deciduous-leaved Bee che s are the most alpine trees in F u eg ia and Tasmania (as shrubs however),
and advance furthest towards tlie South Polar regions o f all arboreous vegetation, to Cape Horn, in
lat. 5 6 ° S., n o th in g o f the sort is found in N ew Zealand or the islands to the south o f that Archipelago.
I t is iu the in vestigation o f such facts that we seek a clue to guide us to a knowledge o f the great problem
o f the distribution o f southern plants.
VOL. I . 4 T