Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/227

] several European genera occur, as species of Cardamine, Ranunculus, Plantain, Geranium, and Epilobium, two beautiful white and red-flowered Gentians ( xxxv. and xxxvi.), and a Forget-me-not ( xxxvii.), with flowers much larger than those of any English species.

"The vegetation is characterised by a luxuriance of these fine species, and the absence of such weeds as grasses and sedges, &c. Eighty flowering plants were found, a small number, but consisting of species more remarkable for their beauty and novelty than the flora of any other country can show, no less than fifty-six being hitherto undescribed, and one half of the whole peculiar to this group, or Campbell Island, as far as is at present known.

"The ships of Captain Vancouver's expedition touched at the southern extremity of New Zealand, from whence the naturalist attached to that voyage, the late venerable Mr. Menzies, brought a richer store of cryptogamic plants than had ever before reached Europe. Nor did Lord Auckland's group prove less productive, having afforded no less than upwards of two hundred species of mosses, lichens, Hepaticæ, and sea-weeds, &c.; of which a very large proportion are new to science.

"A few botanical remarks on the flora of this group are best incorporated with those on the vegetation of the island next visited. It may here be remarked, however, that probably nearly all of the native plants were collected; that the vegetation is characteristic of New Zealand, but contains