Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/79

 rectus, calyce sub &fracc12; longior; limbus explanatus, lobis rotundatis, venosis, intense cyaneis, alabastris rubris; faux glandulis fornicatis, medio superne emarginatis fere clausa. Stamina 5, inclusa, apicibus solummodo antherarum exsertis, filamentis brevibus. Nucul&aelig; 4, basifix&aelig;, immatur&aelig; late ovat&aelig;, acut&aelig;, plano compress&aelig;, dorso convexiuscul&aelig;, intus medio obscure carinat&aelig;, marginibus acutis, sub-ancipitibus; pericarpium subcrustaceum, tenue, fuscum. Stylus elongatus, gracilis, stigmate clavato, obtuso, exserto terminatus.

This is a very pretty species, though not quite so handsome as its near congener, M. alpestris, Schm., from which it differs at first sight in the smaller corollas, which are of a deep violet-blue, as in M. Azorica, H. Wats. It may I think be distinguished from any of the species of this difficult genus by the dense capitate racemes, together with the narrow calyces and calycine segments and the long tube of the corolla. Another allied species, the M. fulva, Hook. and Arn., which inhabits the west coasts both of extratropical North and South America, chiefly differs from this in the shorter tube of the white corolla, and in the calyces being densely covered with silky fulvous or pale brown hairs.

. Fig. 1, a flower; fig. 2, corolla laid open; fig. 3, young ach&aelig;nia and style; fig. 4, dorsal, and fig. 5, anterior view of ach&aelig;nia nearly mature:&mdash;all magnified.

2. antarctica, Hook. fil. ; parvula, c&aelig;spitosa, caulibus plurimis confertis prostratis v. ascendentibus foliosis, foliis obovato-oblongis subhispido-pilosis basi latis, floribus raris in axillis foliorum superiorum solitariis breviter pedicellatis, calycis segmentis lineari-subulatis obtusis, coroll&aelig; tubo calyce bis longiore limbo patente. (.)

. Campbell's Island; on the debris at the base of precipices in the most exposed places along with Cardamine stellata, and in clefts of rock on the very summits of the mountains.

Radix perennis, brevis, subfusiformis, descendens, aterrima, multiceps, copiosissime fibrosa, fibris ramosis fasciculatis. Caules plurimi, abbreviati, 1 unc. longi vel breviores, undique patentes, subrigidi, parce ramosi, foliosi, interiores ascendentes, vetustiores prostrati, emortui anni præteriti longiores. Folia conferta, basi interdum imbricata, horizontaliter patentia, subcoriacea, obovato-oblonga, obtusa, inferiora et radicalia majora, vix &frac34; unc. longa, 2-4 lin. lata, supra medium uninervia, subhispido-pilosa, pilis albidis appressis, subtus glabriuscula, pilis paucis, laxis, patentibus, versus basim latam glabra, marginibus ciliatis, vetustiora pilis sparsis, rigidis, basi globoso-incrassatis, demum deciduis obsita. Flores 4-6, parvi, inconspicui, vix racemosi, terminales solummodo in spicam nudam dispositi, 3-4 inferiores in axillis foliorum supremorum solitarii, subsessiles v. breviter pedicellati, plerumque inter folia occlusi. Calyx cylindraceus, segmentis corolla &frac12; brevioribus, &frac12; lin. longis, pilosis, pilis elongatis, fructiferis subfoliaceis. Coroll&aelig; tubus cylindraceus, elongatus, limbo explanato, lobis concavis, obovato-rotundatis, azureis, venosis. Stamina 5; filamentis brevibus, incurvis, subulatis; antheris majusculis. Ovaria 4, parva, sessilia. Stylus filiformis, stigmate simplice clavato terminatus. Nucul&aelig; 4, unico v. pluribus abortivis, valde compress&aelig;, ancipites v. subbialat&aelig;, ovat&aelig;, acut&aelig;, dorso convexiuscul&aelig;, intus planiores, medio subcarinat&aelig;. Pericarpium tenue, crustaceum, atrum, nitidum, l&aelig;ve. Testa membranacea. Embryo majusculus, compressus; radicula parva, supera; cotyledonibus majusculis, plano-convexis.

This is a very small species, typical of a high latitude and rigorous climate, preferring also those localities where few other plants but lichens and mosses can exist. It is remarkable as belonging to a small section of the genus, apparently confined to the islands of New Zealand, of which the M. spathulata, Forst., is the type. These have many of the lower flowers solitary in the axils of the uppermost leaves, and the true ebracteate raceme reduced to a very short and few-flowered spike.

The leaves of several of the New Zealand species of Boragine&aelig; so closely resemble one another in form, that unless good flowering specimens are examined, two genera may easily be considered as belonging to one and the same plant. Such are a species of Exarrhena, Br., and the M. spathulata of A. Richard. The latter is a very distinct plant from either M. capitata or M. antarctica, as also from the true spathulata of Forster,