XIV. ROSACEÆ, Juss.
1. GEUM, Linn.
1. Geum Magellanicum; Commers., ex Pers. Euch. vol. ii. p. 57. DC. Prodr. vol. ii. p. 57. Don, Encyclop. vol. ii. p. 527. G. coccineum, Seringe, in DC. Prodr. vol. ii. p. 551. Smith, Silthorpe, etc. Lindley, Bot. Reg. t. 1088. G. Chiloense, Bulbis, (fid. Ser. in DC. 1. c). Hook, et Arn. in Bot. Miscell. vol. iii. p. 305. Don, Encycl. vol. ii. p. 526. G. Chilense, Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 1348. G. Quellyon, Sweet, Brit. Fl. Garden, Ser. 1. vol. iii. t. 292. Caryophyllata foliis alatis, &c. Feuill. Per. et Chili, vol. i. p. 736. t. 27.
Hab. Strait of Magalliaens, Commerson; Port Famine, Capt. King; Cape Negro, C. Darwin, Esq.
I have restored the trivial name of Magellanicum, feeling convinced that Commerson, who collected more plants in the Strait of Magalhaens than any other person, could not have overlooked the present and only species of the genus that is abundant in that locality, and which agrees with the scanty description published by Persoon. Its very close affinity with the G. coccineum, of the ' Flora Graeca,' has led to much discussion. Seringe first published them as one plant, probably discrediting the American habitat assigned to it by Balbis, from whom lie received garden specimens under the name of G. Cliiloense. Dr. Lindley next described and figured the Chilian plant and also referred it to G. coccineum. ; but in a following number of the 'Botanical Register,' after an attentive comparison of the Chilian with Sibthorpe's specimens, he disunited them, on account of the terminal lobe of the leaf of the Chilian being smaller and the lateral larger than in the Greek plant. Sweet disregards Balbis' name of Cliiloense, proposing that of Quellyon, affirming that the G. coccineum is very different, and probably a Sieversia; he neither gives his reasons for separating them nor for considering the Greek plant a Sieversia, though possibly he judges from its resemblance to S. montana. Lastly, Don says of G. Magellanicum that his is perhaps a Sieversia, but neither does he state why.
Of G. Magellanicum I may remark, that it is an exceedingly variable species in stature, in the size of its petals, and form of the leaves, which have large or small lateral and terminal lobes indifferently. Again, the flowers of the wild specimens are certainly very often yellow, and about twice as large as the calyx; while in the garden plant they are much larger and more or less red or scarlet. The flowering stems vary from three inches to nearly two feet high and the leaves from two inches to one foot long. The segments of the calyx are generally shortly ovate, but in one specimen from Mr. Macrae they are abnost lanceolate. The whole plant varies in pubescence. Its range is from Valparaiso to the strait of Magalhaens, whose northern shore it skirts, ascending on the east coast of Patagonia as far as Cape Fairweather. Inland it inhabits both flanks of the Andes, from whence no doubt it has been transported eastward for some distance into the Patagonian plains, for Mr. Darwin collected it on the river Santa Cruz, 250 miles above the sea, where it was accompanied by some other plants foreign to the greater part of the east coast of South America. In Peru this species is replaced by another with small petals, more characteristic of the North American forms of the genus.
The first plant with which I woidd compare the present is G. Capense, which has longer calycine segments than the ordinary states of G. Magellanicum, but does not otherwise differ except in the rather slenderer awns to the carpels. I have compared two African specimens with a large suite of the G. Magellanicum, and have no reason to suppose them specifically distinct. Of the true G. coccineum of Sibthorpe's 'Flora Graeca' we have three excellent specimens, from the collections of Aucher-Eloy, gathered on Mount Olympus, and another from RumeUa under the name of G. Sadleri, Friv., which the accurate Grisebach unites with G. coccineum ; but they do not enable me to detect any character different from the South American plant, nor even to retain them as separate varieties. The calycine segments of both vary in size, and in the same proportions, the incisions of the margins of the leaf of the European
