Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/418

382 caryopsis, and are never staminiferous ; thus it is very possible that some of the varieties enumerated may be the males of this, the largest form.

M. Brongniart has suggested the propriety of erecting the present plant, together with the F. Antarctica, into a new genus, and they certainly are more nearly allied to one another than to any of their congeners ; still I doubt the possibility of finding any character of generic value common to them both. They also resemble some South Brazilian and Patagonian grasses, as the Poa lanuginosa, Nees, and other undescribed species.

If I had seen only single specimens of the different varieties, I should certainly have considered three of them to be as many species ; but a very large collection of individuals, from various parts of the Island, has convinced me, that neither the comparative length, breadth, or attenuation of the apices of the glumes and paleas, nor the woolliness of the base of the florets, or length of the leaves, afford any grounds for a further subdivision ; at least I have been unable to effect such, either when examining the fresh specimens, or, more lately, when comparing the dried ones. Dissimilar as the following plant appears, I am not at all positive of its claims to the rank of a separate species ; for some of its characters may be due to the different locality it generally affects ; and specimens of the var. 8. approaching the F. Arundo far too nearly.

Though a large and very handsome grass, the Festuca Arundo is so harsh and rigid as to be quite unpalateable to cattle ; this is the more obvious from its often growing side by side with the nutritious Tussock, out of the same sand-heap.

3. Festuca Antarctica, Kunth, Gram. vol. i. p. 132. En. Plant, vol. 1. p. 408. Arundo Antarctica, Bf Urv. in Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris, vol. iv. p. 602.

Var. a, cuhno pedali, foliis strictis rigidis, panicula erecta, flosculis basi fasciculis pilorum instructis. Arundo Antarctica, Brong. I. c.

Var. /3. culmo pedali et ultra, foliis elongatis flexuosis, panicula nutante, fasciculis pilorurn rarissimis.

Var. y. omnia varietatis /3., sed flosculis omnino nudis.

Var. S. habitu varietatis a. flosculisque varietatis y.

Hab. Falkland Islands, most abundant ; vars. a. and 8. on sandy shores ; vars. p. and y. in rocky places, both near the sea and upon the hills, sometimes also on the sandy shores.

Few botanists would, I think, venture to separate any of the varieties enumerated above from F. Antarctica, and very many others would unite all with the preceding species, and perhaps correctly. M. Kunth describes a specimen of this grass (received from D'Urville) as having the flosculi naked at the base, exactly as in my varieties y. and 8. {En. Plant. Suppl. p. 340). The locustse vary iu my specimens, being from two- to four-flowered.

4. Festuca arenaria, Lamk., Encycl. vol. i. p. 191. D'Urv. in Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris, vol. iv. p. 602. Brongniart, in Buperrey Voy. Bot. p. 35. Kunth, En. Plant, vol. i. p. 408.

Hab. Strait of Magalhaens, Commerson; Port Famine, Capt. King; Falkland Islands, marshy and sandy places, Gaudickaud, Sfc.

The lower paleaj of this species are frequently notched on each side, below the apex, as in a genuine Dactylis, and in the following plant. Fuegian specimens are often viviparous.

5. Festuca Coohii, Hook, fil.; panicula elongata erecta contracta fastigiatim v. verticillatim ramosa, glumis subajqualibus ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis glaberrhnis 4-floris superiore 3-nervi, flosculis basi nudiusculis palea inferiore puberula 5-nervi dorso basi sericeo-barbata, apice acuminata integra v. 3-dentata, culmo diviso folioso basi radicante, foliis distichis culmum superantibus. (Tab. CXXXIX.)

Hab. Kerguelen's Land, abundant; Anderson (in Cook's Voyage), J. B. LT.