The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage/Part I/Halorageae
VIII. HALORAGEÆ, Br.
1. Callitriche verna, L. DeC. Prodr. vol. iii. p. 70. D'Urv. Fl. Ins. Mal. in Mem. Soc. Linn. Par. vol. iv. p. 620. Gaud, in Freyc. Voy. Bot. p. 138.
Var. β. terrestris; caulibus brevissimis repentibus, foliis approximatis carnosis.
Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island; common on the ground and on wet rocks near the sea. β. On the ground by the margins of pools, Campbell's Island.
A very general plant throughout the Antarctic Islands visited by the "Erebus and Terror." First noticed as a native of the Falkland Islands by Admiral D'Urville, who, in his description of the plant, which is not uncommon there, and is identical with the var. β. of Campbell's Island, alludes to the filament and ovarium as each arising from a minute bipartite calyx. Neither in my dried specimens, nor when in a fresh state, could I detect organs answering to this description. The bracteas, which are extremely caducous, and only exist in the very youngest state of the flower, are singularly falcate, linear-subulate and membranaceous, similar to those of C. platycarpa, Kützing. The leaves vary much in shape, and the whole plant in size, as in Europe. The anthers, (though described as one-celled) are in reality didymous and 2-celled; they first open down each side and then across the connectivum at the top, always remaining partially 2-celled. Filaments often very long, half an inch and upwards. The styles are also slender, and when highly magnified exhibit throughout their length minute papillæ. 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.