South Pacific Ocean is hence a remarkable circumstance, and probably in some measure to be accounted for by the uniform temperature which the New Zealand Islands possess; they further there bear a larger proportion to the other dicotyledonous vegetation than they do in any other part of the globe. I have alluded to the S. divaricata having a considerable range in latitude, a circumstance not without parallel in the order to which it belongs. Of this M. Africana, L. is an extreme instance, that plant being found both at the Cape of Good Hope, in Abyssinia, and in the Azores Islands. The species of the Natural Order are however, as M. A. DeCandolle well remarks (Linn. Trans, vol. xvii. p. 99), very confined as regards their geographical limits, Melastomaceæ and Myrtaceæ being two of the very few groups containing about the same or a greater number of species which are more so.
Plate XXXIV. Fig. 1, a flower; fig. 2, the same laid open; fig. 3, a petal and stamen; fig. 4, a flower with the germen more advanced; figs. 5, 6 and 7, various forms of stigmata; fig. 8, half-ripe berry; fig. 9, longitudinal section of the same; fig. 10, placenta and young seed; fig. 11, the same cut open longitudinally; fig. 12, young seed; fig. 13, ripe berry; fig. 14, longitudinal section of the same; fig. 15, seed covered with the shrivelled remains of the placenta; fig. 16, seed removed from do.; fig. 17, longitudinal section of seed showing the embryo; fig. 18, embryo removed:—all magnified.
XX. GENTIANEÆ, Juss.
1. Gentiana (Antarctophila, Griseb.) concinna, Hook. fil.; annua, caule breviusculo ramoso, ramis teretibus suberectis v. patulis foliosis, foliis coriaceis elongato-spathulatis obtusis marginibus minutissime serrulatis, floribus confertis paniculatis inter folia sessilibus v. brevissime pedunculatis, segmentis calycinis linearibus corolla ½ brevioribus, corolla campanulata limbi lobis obovato-oblongis obtusis albidis rubro pictis, glandulis fauce corollæ 5 orbiculatis subdepressis, antheris post anthesin extrorsis. (Tab. XXXV.)
Var. β. elongata; caule ascendente spithameo vage ramoso, foliis majoribus subtus 3-costatis, floribus albidis rubro-purpureo pictis.
Var. γ. robusta; caule erecto crasso simplici v. ramoso, foliis lanceolatis obtusis subtus 3–5-costatis.
Hab. Lord Auckland's group; on the bleak and exposed faces of the mountains. β. amongst rocks and in sheltered situations on the tops of the hills. γ. Campbell's Island; on the hills, abundant.
Radix simplex, elongato-fusiformis, 1–2 unc. longa, descendeus, hinc illinc fibrosa, sæpe multiceps, intus lutea, sapore amaro. Caules solitarii v. plures, perbreves, erecti, 1½—3 uncias longi, nunc ex ima basi dichotome ramosi, rarius solitarii, inferne simplices, elongati, superne fastigiatim ramosi. Rami abbreviati, rarius 1–2 uncias longi v. ultra, erecti, teretes, foliosi, crassitie pennæ passerinæ, superne et ramuli laterales floriferi. Folia inferiora seu radicalia conferta, plerumque stellatim patentia, rarius laxa et suberecta v. stricta, sæpius plus minusve recurva, elongato-spathulata, in petiolum gradatim attenuata, latitudine varia, ¾—1 unc. longa, supra medium 4 lin. lata, coriacea, marginibus recurvis, sub lente minutissime cartilagineo-serrulatis, medio uninervia, et nervis duobus lateralibus interdum obsoletis, superne convexiuscula, canaliculata, subtus costa elevata, læte flavo-viridia, fusco purpureove picta, siccitate corrugata; folia caulina breviora; petiolus latiusculus, marginibus basi membranaceis. Inflorescentia paniculata, sed ramis valde abbreviatis, foliosis, foliis superioribus multoties brevioribus, ita ut flores videantur glomerati, paucique inter folia summa sunt solitarii. Calyx 5-fidus, tubo brevi, obconico, segmentis lineari-oblongis, obtusis, coriaceis, dorso subacutis, corolla ½ brevioribus, viridibus.
