300 NEW SPECIES OF TASMANIAN PLANTS. 
perianthii tubo cylindraceo sericeo lobis lanceolatis ciliatis glandulis 
fauce 8 per paria approximatis globosis, filamentis inter segmenta 
insertis filiformi-subulatis, stigmate capitato glanduloso, baeca ovoi- 
dea obtusa compressa, semine loculo conformi testa crustacea atra 
nitida, (Tas. VIL) 
Ha», Summit of the Western Mountains in Tasmania, alt. 3-4000 feet; 
R. C. Gunn, Esq. 
The discovery of the genus Drapetes on the Alps of Tasmania by our 
indefatigable correspondent Mr. Gunn, is a very interesting though 
hardly unexpected one. It belongs to a small group of plants con- 
fined to the high southern latitudes or to great elevations in warmer 
regions of the Southern Hemisphere; and it is found in both the Old 
and New World. Ten years ago only one species was known, the D. 
muscosa of Forster, a native of Fuegia and the Falkland Islands. Binoe 
that period four more species have been discovered, D. Dieffenbachii, 
Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. vol. ii. p. 497. t. 17, and D. muscoides, both 
in New Zealand (see Flora Nove Zelandize) ; one on the lofty mountain 
of Kini Balu in Borneo, D. ericoides, nob. in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 895; 
and lastly the present. 
All the species of Drapetes very closely resemble one another, and 
form a natural genus ; and one character alone of some importance dis- 
tinguishes the American species (D. muscosa) from those of the Old 
World, which is the jointing of the tube of the perianth above the 
ovary, whence the upper part falls away as the flower withers. I indi- 
cated this and some other points of difference between the South Ame- 
rican and New Zealand species in the * Flora Antarctica,’ and suggested 
the probability of these being considered of generic importance by some 
botanists. They have since then been so regarded by the late Professor 
Endlicher, who proposed the name Kelleria for the New Zealand D. 
Dieffenbachii, characterizing it by the continuous tube of the perianth, 
capitate stigma, and broad gland opposite each segment of the perianth ; 
these characters are common to the Bornean and Tasmanian plants, ex- 
cept that the gland is divided, or rather there is a pair of these organs, 
in both the latter species, 
Piare VIL Fig. 1. Leaf. 2. Flower. 3. Stamens and glands. 
4. Ovary. 5. The same cut open. 6 and 7. Fruit, 8, The same 
cut open, showing the seed. 9. Embryo :—ail magnified. 
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