Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/261

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Falkland's, etc.]
FLORA ANTARCTICA.
229

3. Caltha (Psycliroplrila, DC.) dionecefolia, Hook.; purnila, eaubbus densissime csespitosis ramosis, foliis orbiculari-ovatis bilobis lobis conduplicatis appendiculisque 2 appressis oblongis setoso-ciliatis papulosis, stipulis maximis concavis, sepalis 5 oblongo-ovatis crassis apicibus obtusis membrauaceis, stamimbus 5-7, ovariis 2-3. C. dionesefoba, Hook, in Loud. Journ. of Bot. vol. ii. p. 306. (Tab. LXXX1T.)

Hab. Fuegia; Forster and C. Darwin, Esq. Hermite Island, from tbe sea to an altitude of 1500 feet ; /. B. H.

Caules eonferti, 2-4 nnc. longi, stipulis scariosis foliorum delapsonim tecti, ramosi, hie illic fibras crassas simplices emittentes. Petioli breves, validi, iu vaginarn maximam concavam cymbifonnem dilatati ; foliorum lamina vagina minor, sub 2 lin. longa, coriacea, superne lsete viridis, papulosa, subtus palb'dio, marginibus instar Dionece ciliatis, appendiculis lamina; appressis, extus ciliatis. Peditnculi breves, crassi, subclavati, obtuse trigoni, una longi. Flores hermaphroditi ?, stellati, stramiuei, extus flavi. Sepala 5, patentia, elliptico-ovata, carnosa, apice obtuso membranaceo subappendiculato, nerris plurimis. Stamina plerumque 7, filamentis crassis purpureo-notatis, antheris majuseulis. Ovaria 2-3, ssepissinie 2, oblique ovata, obtusa; ovulis 2-5.

First detected, but never described, by Forster, from whose collections we have a very small specimen, intermixed with 0.ralis Magellanica. In the southern parts of Tierra del Fuego it is a very common plant, covering large tracts of ground with a carpet of deep but shining green, upon which the stellate flowers have a very pretty appearance. The similarity between the leaf of this and of the Dionaa muscipula, " American Fly-trap," is very striking.

Plate LXXXIY. Fig. 1, back view, and 2, a side view of the leaf, petiole, and stipule or vagina ; 3, front view of lamina, showing the appendages ; 4, flower ; 5, the same when fully expanded : — all magnified.

II. MAGNOLIACEÆ, DC.

1. DEIMYS, Ford.

1. Drbiys Winteri, Forst. Gen. p. 84. t. 42. Linn. Fil. Suppl. p. 269. Lamarck, Bid. vol. ii. p. 331. BC. Syst. Veg. vol. i. p. 443. Prodr. vol. i. p. 78. D. punctata, Lam. Bid. vol. ii. p. 330. Ilhst. t. 494. f. 1. Winterana aromatica, Soland. Med. Obs. vol. v. p. 46. t. 1. Wintera aromatica, Murray, Syst. 507. Apj). Med. vol. iv. p. 557. Humb. et Bonpl. vol. i. p. 209.

Hab. Strait of Magalbaens and Fuegia ; first noticed by John Winter who accompanied Drake's voyage in 1577, and since by all voyagers and collectors.

A very abundant tree throughout the western and southern parts of Fuegia, even in Herrnite Island ascending to 1000 feet. The natives use the stems of the young trees, rudely fashioning them into handles sometimes ten feet long, for then harpoons ; but the wood is too soft and supple. The bark has proved a most useful sto- machic and antiscorbutic to various voyagers, and especially to a portion of the crew of the 'Beagle' during Capt. King's arduous surveying voyage (vide King's Voyage, vol. i. p. 234.).

After a careful examination of a'very extensive suite of examples, I have come to the conclusion that there is but one South American species of this genus. There is a dissimilarity in the form of the foliage, even between the North and South Fuegian states, the former having longer and more membranous leaves, differing in no respect from specimens gathered near Valparaiso by GDUes, Cuming, and Bertero, which generally pass under the name of D. CMlensis, DC. From Juan Fernandez again, the plants collected by the two last-mentioned travellers belong to the same species : though the leaves are generally more linear, they are not so much so as in some of the continental states. In Brazil, the variety, called D. Granatensis, L. fil., is found over the whole of that vast empire, and equally occurs in New Grenada and the province of Santa Fe in Colombia. Mr. Gardner's number 5675 precisely accords