14 FLORA ANTARCTICA. [Auckland and 



to Sagina, to be far removed from that genus, while the habit is not that of an)' of this Order. The present 

 plant differs from its congeners in being rigid and somewhat pungent ; the structure of the flower however 

 entirely agrees with that of the previously described species. All the specimens I have examined from this 

 locality have a 5-sepalous perianth, which in the South American state of the plant is as invariably 4-sepalous. 

 It is also apt to assume here a monstrous state, the central axis of the capsule becoming proliferous and sending 

 out from the position of the placenta; (in the natural state) two foliaceous shoots, each with two pairs of leaves, 

 projecting beyond the perianth, and the ovules (abortive) arranged round the bases of these shoots. 



2. Colobanthus muscoides, Hook. fil. ; densissime compactus carnosus, ramis confertis foli- 

 osis, foliis arete imbricatis patentim recurvis lineari-subulatis obtusis supra planis basi lata connatis, 

 pedunculis brevissimis solitariis terminalibus superne incrassatis, perianthio herbaceo parvo com- 

 presso, sepalis 4 erectis lanceolatis obtusis concavis exterioribus majoribus dorso obscure carinatis, 

 staminibus 4 per paria approximatis ex annulo perigyno incrassato ortis. 



Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island ; on wet rocks especially near the sea, 

 and immediately above high-water mark. 



The smallest species in regard to size of leaves and flower with which I am acquainted, and yet perhaps 

 most nearly allied to the finest of the genus, a Kerguelen's Land species. The whole plant is densely matted 

 and fleshy, forming compact tufts. Stems 3-4 inches long. Leaves 2 lines. The flowers are much compressed, 

 very minute and inconspicuous, 1 line long, sunk among the leaves. Perianth of four erect sepals, of which the 

 lateral are larger, more concave, and keeled at the back. Perigynous ring very conspicuous, and swollen into 

 two large yellow fleshy glands between the bases of the stamens. 



3. Colobanthus Billardieri, Fenzl, Ann. TVien. Mus. 1. 48, in not. Spergula apetala, Lab. Fl. 

 Nov. Holl. vol. i.p. 112. t. 1S2. DeC. Prodr. vol. i. p.395. Hook. fil. in Bot. Journ. vol. ii. p. 410. 

 Stellaria uniflora, Banks and Sol. MSS. in Mus. Banks. 



Hab. Campbell's Island ; on banks near the sea, scarce. 



This species was originally discovered by Banks and Solander at Totarra nui, in the Northern Island of 

 New Zealand, during Captain Cook's first voyage, and an excellent drawing of it, by Parkinson, is preserved in 

 the Banksian collection. Labillardiere afterwards detected it in Tasmania, whence Mr. Gunn sent beautiful 

 specimens, in describing which I had occasion to notice its near affinity with the genus Sagina. Fenzl (/. c. 

 according to Walper's Repert. vol. ii. p. 249) quotes the Sagina crassifolia, D'Urv., as a synonym of his C. Bil- 

 lardieri, and reduces the original plant of Labillardiere to a variety, under the name of ft. procerior. What I 

 take for the plant of Admiral D'Urville, whose description (Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris, vol. iv. p. 617) is very charac- 

 teristic, is much larger, of a different habit, and with truly linear very fleshy leaves, and is common in the Falk- 

 lands, as well as the C. Quitensis, Bartl., which is closely allied to the C. affinis (Spergula affinis, Hook. Icon. 

 Plant, vol. iii. t. 26b'). Labillardiere says of the stamens of C. Billardieri, " sub pistillo inserta," but this is not 

 the case with the specimens I have examined. They are clearly placed at the exterior of a membranous disc 

 which surrounds the perianth, remote from the base of the ovary. The Campbell's Island specimens are very 

 small, scarcely an inch high, whereas the Tasmanian are twice or thrice that size. 



