The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage/Part I/Portulaceae

by Joseph Dalton Hooker

X.PORTULACEÆ, Juss.

1. Montia fontana, L. DeC. Prodr. vol. iii. p. 362. M. linearifolia, D'Urv. Fl. Ins. Mal. l. c. vol. iv. p. 619. M. lamprosperma, Chamisso in Linnæa, vol. vi. p. 565. t. 7.

Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Islands; in moist places near the sea, abundant.

This is a very variable plant and an exceedingly common one in the southern regions. The specimens from the various Antarctic islands vary much in size, in the form of the leaf, in the number of the stamens, and in the number and nature of the surface of the seeds. Those of the Auckland and Campbell's Island specimens agree with the figure quoted of Chamisso's M. lamprosperma, but they are not larger than the seeds of European specimens. The Falkland Islands, form again has the seeds very large with a black tuberculated shining testa, agreeing in the latter character with those of Kerguelen's Land, which are however smaller. In the Peruvian plant the seeds are very small, but covered and almost echinate with crowded elevated linear tubercles. Those of the English plant are not constant in size, but the testa is generally more opake and not remarkably tuberculated. It is difficult to find a more widely distributed phænogamic plant than this, especially in the southern hemisphere, where it generally accompanies the Callitriche verna. In New Zealand and in Peru it inhabits a more elevated region. According to Boissier, it attains in Spain an altitude of 5000–7000 feet. In the Highlands of Scotland it ascends to 3000 feet, and reaches as far north as Iceland and Siberia in Europe and Asia. Though universally distributed over all the temperate parts of these two continents, and in the south, it appears to be singularly rare in North America, being hitherto detected only in Labrador, Greenland (whose Flora presents more European peculiarities than any other part of America east of the Rocky Mountains), Sitka and the Oregon.

1. Colobanthus subulatus; dense pulvinatus nitidus, caulibus ramosis foliosis, foliis arcte imbricatis strictis rigidis subulatis coriaceis supra canaliculatis basi scarioso-membranaceis vaginantibus apicibus subpiliferis, floribus terminalibus solitariis, pedunculis folio brevioribus, sepalis 4–5 erectis inæqualibus lanceolatis striatis pungentibus, staminibus 4–5 filamentis basi in annulum perigynum coalitis, capsula 4–5-fida.—Sagina subulata, D'Urv. Fl. Ins. Mal. l. c. p. 618. S. muscosa, β. squarrosa et γ. laricifolia, Sol. MSS. in Herb. Mus. Brit. Colob. Benthamianus, Fenzl, MSS. in Endl. Atakt. t. 49. Ann. Wien. Mus. †49.

Hab. Campbell's Island; in rounded tufts on rocks near the summits of the hills, alt. 1000 feet.

Caules 1–1½ pollicares, ramosi, fastigiati, glaberrimi. Folia 1½–2 lin. longa, pallide viridi-straminea, erecto-patentia, basi connata. Pedunculi &frac34: lin. longi, subangulati, validi. Perianthium folia vix superans et iis immersum, basi truncatum; sepalis basi incrassatis, in nostris exemplaribus 5, quorum 2 exterioribus paulo majoribus, 3 interioribus imbricatis. Stamina 5, rarius 4, manifeste perigyna, perianthii foliolis alterna; filamentis compressis, subulatis; antheris ovalibus. Ovarium ovatum, disco perigyno insertum, 1-loculare, sub 5-ovulatum. Styli 4–5. Stigmata lineari-clavata, intus glandulosa. Capsula ad medium 5-fida v. 4–5-partita, chartacea; segmentis obtusis, perianthio persistente inclusa. Semina 3–4, angulata, subreniformia, compressa; testa pallide brunnea, subtilissime granulata.

Of rare occurrence, and confined to the tops of the hills in Campbell's Island; nowhere seen in Lord Auckland's group. In the Falklands, and in Fuegia, where it was discovered by Banks and Solander, it is very common, both on the low grounds and on the mountains. I have followed Fenzl and Endlicher in placing this genus in Portulaceæ, though I must confess that to me it appears too closely allied to Caryophylleæ, and especially to Sagina, to be far removed from that genus, while the habit is not that of any of this Order. The present plant differs from its congeners in being rigid and somewhat pungent; the structure of the flower however entirely agrees with that of the previously described species. All the specimens I have examined from this locality have a 5-sepalous perianth, which in the South American state of the plant is as invariably 4-sepalous. It is also apt to assume here a monstrous state, the central axis of the capsule becoming proliferous and sending out from the position of the placentæ (in the natural state) two foliaceous shoots, each with two pairs of leaves, projecting beyond the perianth, and the ovules (abortive) arranged round the bases of these shoots.

2. Colobanthus muscoides, Hook. fil.; densissime compactus carnosus, ramis confertis foliosis, foliis arete imbricatis patentim recurvis lineari-subulatis obtusis supra planis basi lata connatis, pedunculis brevissimis solitariis terminalibus superne incrassatis, perianthio herbaceo parvo compresso, sepalis 4 erectis lanceolatis obtusis concavis exterioribus majoribus dorso obscure carinatis, staminibus 4 per paria approximatis ex annulo perigyno incrassato ortis.

Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island; on wet rocks especially near the sea, and immediately above high-water mark.

The smallest species in regard to size of leaves and flower with which I am acquainted, and yet perhaps most nearly allied to the finest of the genus, a Kerguelen's Land species. The whole plant is densely matted and fleshy, forming compact tufts. Stems 3–4 inches long. Leaves 2 lines. The flowers are much compressed, very minute and inconspicuous, 1 line long, sunk among the leaves. Perianth of four erect sepals, of which the lateral are larger, more concave, and keeled at the back. Perigynous ring very conspicuous, and swollen into two large yellow fleshy glands between the bases of the stamens.

3. Colobanthus Billardieri, Fenzl, Ann. Wien. Mus. l. 48, in not. Spergula apetala, Lab. Fl. Nov. Holl. vol. i. p. 112. t. 1S2. DeC. Prodr. vol. i. p. 395. Hook. fil. in Bot. Journ. vol. ii. p. 410. Stellaria uniflora, Banks and Sol. MSS. in Mus. Banks.

Hab. Campbell's Island; on banks near the sea, scarce.

This species was originally discovered by Banks and Solander at Totarra nui, in the Northern Island of New Zealand, during Captain Cook's first voyage, and an excellent drawing of it, by Parkinson, is preserved in the Banksian collection. Labillardière afterwards detected it in Tasmania, whence Mr. Gunn sent beautiful specimens, in describing which I had occasion to notice its near affinity with the genus Sagina. Fenzl (l.c. according to Walper's Repert. vol. ii. p. 249) quotes the Sagina crassifolia, D'Urv., as a synonym of his C. Billardieri, and reduces the original plant of Labillardiere to a variety, under the name of β. procerior. What I take for the plant of Admiral D'Urville, whose description (Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris, vol. iv. p. 617) is very characteristic, is much larger, of a different habit, and with truly linear very fleshy leaves, and is common in the Falklands, as well as the C. Quitensis, Bartl., which is closely allied to the C. affinis (Spergula affinis, Hook. Icon. Plant, vol. iii. t. 266). Labillardière says of the stamens of C. Billardieri, "sub pistillo inserta," but this is not the case with the specimens I have examined. They are clearly placed at the exterior of a membranous disc which surrounds the perianth, remote from the base of the ovary. The Campbell's Island specimens are very small, scarcely an inch high, whereas the Tasmanian are twice or thrice that size.