Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/415

Falklands, etc.] 2. Poa nemoralis, Linn., Sp. PI. 102. Engl. Bot. 1. 1265.

Hab. Strait of Magalhaens ; Port Gregory, Cajjf. King.

Most distinctly the P. nemoralis of Ben-Lawers, whose flowers are slightly webbed at the base. It is also a Rocky-Mountain plant, but has not hitherto been found on the Cordillera of South America.

3. Poa pratensis, Linn., Sp.Pl. 99. Banks et Sol. in Mas. Banks. Engl. Bot. 1. 1073. P. compressa, var. virescens, D'Urv. in Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris, vol. iv. p. 600. P. alpina, Brongn. in Diqierrey, Yog. Bot. p. 44, non Linn.

Var. 1, lignla folii superioris obloiiga, panicula laxa, glumis 4-floris paleisque angustioribus.

Var. 2, panicula subcoarctata, glumis latioribus brevioribusque 2-3-floris.

Var. 3, panicula effusa, glumis 3-5-floris.

Var. 4, panicula coarctata, glumis sub 4-floris paleisque angustioribus, rlosculis basi fere nudis.

Var. 5, 6-uncialis, locustis minoribus 2-3-floris.

Hab. Strait of Magalhaens; Port Famine, Capt. King (vars. 1, 3, and 4), Good Success Bay, Banks and Solander; Falkland Islands, abundant [vars. 2 and 5).

I cannot ascertain the identity of this species with the European P. pratensis, so satisfactorily as that of the former with P. nemoralis j nevertheless, the more the present grass is studied, the more difficult it appears to detect specific characters. The five varieties enumerated, appear all to belong to one plant ; except, perhaps, the var. 1, in which the ligula of the upper leaf is oblong as in the European P. alpina, to a North American state of which I should have referred that variety, had its florets not been webbed, a character, which, though of trifling-importance, (perhaps even less than the form of the ligula) does not exist in any of the numerous individuals of P. alpina that I have examined. In British, and, indeed, in European examples of P. alpina, we are accustomed to see a small panicle of short and broad flowers, with a different aspect to that of P. pratensis; but North American individuals are subject to great variations in the size and outline of the panicle, so great that without connecting forms it would be very difficult to recognize them. Mr. Watson is equally persuaded with myself of the close affinity between this Antarctic Poa and P. alpina, though neither of us can adduce a tangible character beyond the webbed florets to separate the plants of Arctic and Antarctic America. I have not seen any of these species from the intervening Cordillera, a circumstance of little importance, the Graminea of these regions having been very much neglected by all collectors since the period of the travels of the illustrious Humboldt.

12. TRIODIA, Br.

1. Triodia Kerguelensis, Hook, fil.; parvula, dense csespitosa, panicula simplici pauciflora scaberula, glumis insequalibus acutis 3-uerviis 2-floris, flosculis breviter pedicellatis glumis inclusis basi nudis, paleis aequilongis inferiore dorso convexa obscure 5-nervi, superiore sequilonga bifida, foliis setaceis, culmis brevibus basi foliosis. (Tab. CXXXVIII. sub nomine Pose).

Hab. Kerguelen's Land ; rocky places, at an elevation of 300-1200 feet.

Gramen parvuliun, dense casspitosum, 2-4-unciale. Folia glaberrima, brevia, recta sed vix rigida, setacea, marginibus involutis ; lamina vix pollicaris vagina tumida longior ; ligula ovata, subacuta. Panicula seu racemus simplex, 3-5 lin. longus, erectus ; rachi flexuosa, scaberula. Locusta pedunculataa, Hn. longas, ovato-oblongse, virides. Glumce margine dorso nervisque scaberula?, concavee, coriaceo-chartacese ; superior longior, paulo angustior ; inferior oblique acuminata. Flosculi glumas vix superantes, inferior subsessilis, superior breviter