Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/264

232 racemosis erectis strictis linearibus stylo brevi valido erminatis, valvis concavis 3-costatis reticulatim venosis, seminibus plitrimis ovato-oblongis, testa atro-brunnea grosse punctata. A. Macloviana, Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 498. Brassica Magellanica, Poiret? (fide Gaudichaud in Ann. Sc. Nat. vol. v. p. 105.), non Juss. Pers. DC. et Delessert. B. Macloviana, IfUrv. in Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris, vol. iv. p. 616. Erysimum Maclovianum, Gay in Freyc. Toy. Bot. p. 136.

Hab. Falkland Islands ; abundant on the sea coast ; GawVichaud, H Urville, &c. Herba basi lignosa, coriacea, spithamea ad tripedalem, interdum subglaucescens. Folia radicalia 2-3 ivncialia. Flores conferti, ampli. Siliquee 1 unc. longse, subtetragonse.

In the form of the pod this is intermediate between Barbaraa and Arabis, the habit is however altogether that of the latter genus. The fact of a species of Brassica having been described as a native of the Strait of Magalhaens seems to have induced Gaudichaud to refer Ms probably incomplete specimens of this plant to it. D'Urville afterwards retained the generic name, but constituted this a new species. That the specimens of the former, and possibly of the latter voyager also, were incomplete, is evident from M. Gay's referring it to the genus Erysimum, from which as from Brassica it is far removed, though in the form of valves of the pods and habit it bears a similarity to some species of the first named genus.

2. CABDAMINE, L.

1. Caedamine hirsuta, Linn., Sp. PI. 915. D'Urville in Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris, vol. iv. p. 616. Gaudichaud in Freyc. Toy. Bot. p. 137. Hook, et Am. in Bot. Miscell. vol. iii. p. 137. Fl. Antarct. part i. p. 5. C. antiscorbutica, Banks et Soland. MSS. in Bill. Banks. C. glacialis, DC. Syst. Teg. vol. ii. p. 264. Prodr. vol.'i. p. 153. C. propinqua, Carmichael, in Linn. Trans, vol. xii. p. 507. Sisymbrium glaciale, Forst. Comm. Goett. vol. ix. p. 32.

Var. nivalis ; foliis majoribus, pedicellis siliquisque elongatis erectis, stigmate sessili. C. nivalis, Gill. MSS. Hook, et Am. in Bot. Miscell. 1. c.

Hab. Fuegia, tlie Falkland Islands, and Tristan d'Acunha; abundant, especially near the sea. Var. /3, in various situations with the former ; Forster, Banks and Solander, Capt. Carmichael, &c.

After what is said respecting this plant in the first part of the present work, it will not excite surprise that I now consider all the species quoted above as states or varieties of the universally diffused C. hirsuta. I have in vain sought for specific characters amongst the numerous specimens now before me, gathered in many parts of Chili, Patagonia, and Fuegia, at different positions on the coast and various elevations on the mountains. The ordinary form, which bears generally the name of C. glacialis, is a small, glabrous or slightly hairy plant, from 2-6 inches high, sparingly branched, with the branches leafy or naked, sometimes of a robust habit. Leaves with 3-5 pair of sinuated leaflets, the terminal one larger, cordate or attenuated at the base. Siliqua? on pedicels from two to three-quarters of an inch long, erect, about an inch long, with acuminated or rather obtuse styles, which are sometimes so short that the stigmata are nearly sessile. From the same locality, however, different specimens vary much, and when growing in a sandy soil the roots become tuberous and the whole plant often hairy. In moist situations the stems are leafy upwards and more succulent, resembling the Campbell's Island variety subcarnosa (vol. i. p. 5), and I have gathered individuals of a very small size on the hills of Hermite Island, with single pans of leaflets, answering to the C. glacialis, /3 of DC, and to Buenos Ayres specimens in Herb. Hook. Mr. Darwin has collected a form near Valparaiso, which is not distinguishable from a large state of the plant that inhabits the Island of Arran in Scotland; it is the C. sylvatica and also Sisymbrium Nasturtium var. Chilense, of Bertero. Some of the Falkland Island specimens again, are identical with others gathered in Iceland, and as is the case in the Northern Hemisphere, the flowers produced in the colder latitude are generally the largest. I am not prepared to say how far the C. debilis