Tas, 6829, 
SISYRINCHIUM rinirotiom. 
Native of Fuegia and the Falkland Islands. 
Nat. Ord. In1pEa.—Tribe SisyRInoHIEZz. 
Genus Sisyrincuivum, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p. 698.) 
Stsyrtncntum (Androsolen) filifolium; perenne, caulibus fastigiatis simplicibus 
teretibus striatis basi foliosis, apice in spatham elongatam erectam productis, 
foliis radicalibus filiformibus caulem squantibus brevioribusve, fasciculis 
florum sessilibus v. pedunculatis 2~6-floris, perianthii segmentis subaqualibus 
obovatis albis roseo-venosis basi aureis, filamentis in tubum inflatum mona- 
delphis apicibus liberis, capsula globosa membranaceo-coriacea, seminibus 
obovoideis, testa reticulata. 
S. filifolium, Gaud. in Ann. Se. Nat. vol. v. p, 101, et in Freye. Voy. Bot. p.133; 
DUrv. in Mem. Soc. Linn, Paris, vol. iv. p. 604; Hook f. Fl. Antarct. 
p- 352, t. 126 ; Baker in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. vol. xvi. p. 116. 
8. Gaudichaudii, Dietr. Sp. Pl, vol. ii. p. 505. 
The Falkland Islands, where this plant abounds, are 
amongst the bleakest spots on the globe, considering their 
latitude and abundant moisture; no tree grows on them, 
and the only shrub that attains a few feet in height is the 
well-known Veronica decussata of our greenhouses, and 
that is confined to a limited area of the western of the 
two great islands. Nor is the herbaceous vegetation very 
varied or luxuriant, for of attractive plants for horticultural 
purposes I remember but three, the subject of this plate, 
the Calceolaria Fothergillii (Plate 348), and the lovely 
Oxalis enneaphylla, lately figured (at Plate 6256) in this 
work. The Ovzalis adorns the rocky shores of the islands, 
but the Sisyrinchiwm rears its head from out of the 
heather-like masses of crowberry (Hinpetrum nigrum, var. 
rubrum) which cover the ground, exposing its lovely white 
bells to the bitter blasts from over the Antarctic ice. It 
also grows, but very locally, on the adjacent American 
coast of Tierra del Fuego, and is closely allied to a West 
American species, the S. Nuno, Bert., of Chili, which is a 
much smaller and more slender plant, with flowers not 
half the size, and a filiform tip to the spathe. In the 
auaust Ist, 1885. 
