Tas. 8023. 
PERNETTYA MUCRONATA 
(Varietates diverse). 
South Chili and Patagonia. 
Ericaces, Tribe ANDROMEDEA. 
Pernettya, Gaud.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 582. 
Pernettya mucronata, Gaud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. vol. v. p. 102, in nota; 
Hombr. et Jacq. Voy. au Pole Sud, Bot. Phaner. Dicot. t. 22; Hook. f. Fl. 
Antarct. vol. ii. p. 326; Gay, Fl. Chil. vol. iv. p. 354; species variabilis 
adhuc male circumscripta foliis ovatis vel lanceolatis rigide spinoso- 
cuspidatis, 
Frutez sempervirens, ramosissimus, procumbens vel ascendens, cito glabres- 
cens, ramis rigidis. Folia alterna, conferta, crassa, coriacea, oblongo- 
lanceolata, 3-9 lin. longa, margine recurva, paucidentata. Flores 
axillares, solitarii, pedunculati, circiter 3 lin. longi; pedunculi quam folia 
breviores, recurvi, infra medium bracteolis 2-4 squamiformibus instructi, 
puberuli. Calyx alte 5-fidus, segmentis ovatis acutis. Corolla alba, 
seepe roseo tincta, urceolata, 5-dentata, dentibus recurvis. Stamina 
10, inclusa; filamenta minute puberula, ima basi dilatata; antherarum 
loculi apice breviter biaristati. Ovariwm superum, 5-loculare, loculis 
multiovulatis. Bacca globosa, polysperma. Semina minuta, compressa, 
angulata.—Arbutus mucronatus, Linn. f.; Bot. Mag. t. 3093 (flores 
tantum). 
Pernettya mucronata was originally raised from seeds 
sent home by John Anderson to the Edinburgh Botanic 
Garden, where it flowered for the first time in May, 1830. 
Ten years later P. angustifolia, Lindl. (B. M. t. 3889) 
flowered in the same garden. With regard to the specific 
limits of the Chilian Pernetiyx, authors have taken very 
different views. The forms are numerous, and the late 
Dr. Philippi and others described many of them as species. 
On the other hand, some botanists and horticulturists 
regard P. mucronata and P. angustifolia as mere varieties. 
But, judging from the type of the latter in the Kew 
Herbarium, they seem specifically distinct. P. muero- 
nata, aS we understand it, is itself very variable in 
stature, in the size and shape of the leaves, as well as in 
other characters. It will probably be found to inhabit a 
different area from that of P. angustifolia, though the two 
may overlap to some extent. P. mucronata is essentially — 
a southern species, being very common from the Straits 
of Magellan to Cape Horn, and Sir Joseph Hooker 
JuLy lst, 1905. : 
