266 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



of the placenta or septum, and filling the cavity ; while in the upper cell is a solitary 

 seed of irregular, nearly hemispherical shape, more or less embedded in the top of the 

 placenta. It is quite separated from the others, and, unlike them, it cannot fall out before 

 the operculum itself becomes detached from the placenta. 



PHANEROGAMS.— MONOOOTYLEDONES. 



JUNCACE^E. 

 Juncus communis, E. Mey. 



J uncus communis, E. Mey., Syn. June, p. 12; Benth., Fl. Austr., vii. p. 128; Hook, f., Handb. Fl. 



N. Zeal., p. 290. 

 Juncus effusus et conglomerate ; Linn., Sp. PL, ed. i. p. 326. 



Amsterdam Island. De VI.de. St Paul Island. — Abundant all over the island — 

 Milne. 



Almost everywhere in temperate regions, though wanting in most oceanic islands. 



CYPERACE^E. 

 Scirpus aucklandicus, Bceckl. 



Scirpus aucklandicus, Bceckl. in Linnoea, xxxvi. p. 491. 



Isolepis aucklandica, Hook, f., Fl. Antarct., i. p. 88, t. 50, et Handb. Fl. X. Zeal., p. 302. 



Amsterdam Island. — Beginning at an elevation of about 750 feet — De VIsle, 31. 

 New Zealand ; Lord Auckland and Campbell Islands. 



Scirpus atropurpureo-vaginatus, Bceckl. 



Scirpus atropurpureo-vaginatus, Bceckl. in Flora, 1882, p. 14. 



Amsterdam Island. Vilain. 



We have not seen this, but from the description we think it is a variety of Scirpus 

 nodosus. 



Scirpus nodosus, Fiottb. 



Scirpus nodosus, Rottb., Deser. et Ic. PL, p. 52, t. 8, fig. 3; Bcntb., Fl. Austr., vii. p. 331. 



St. Paul Island. Milne and MacGillivmij ; De V Lisle, 9. Amsterdam Island. 

 Veh.iin. 



Generally dispersed in the south temperate zones, and extending in some places into 

 subtropical regions, and one of the most abundant plants in the island of Amsterdam, 

 growing sometimes as tall as a man, according to Velain, 1 and in such dense thickets as to 



1 Comptes rendus, Ixxx., 1875, p. 1000. 



