Campbell's Islands.] FLORA ANTARCTICA. 59 



(of V. elliptica) is on the same sheet with it ; but another plant, V. Menziesii, Benth. MSS., has been fastened 

 down on the paper at a future period, and the habitat " New Zealand, Dusky Bay, Gul. Anderson," is written 

 on the back, a station probably applying to the latter specimen alone. Solander's handwriting, of V. decussata, 

 />, at the bottom of the sheet, applies to both, as in his manuscript he quotes both Forster and Anderson for the 

 species. I am thus particular in alluding to the British Museum specimens, because there is a discrepancy be- 

 tween the plant of Forster as described by him, and our own, according to his MS. description, published by 

 M. A. Richard, I. c, where the tube of the corolla is described as being twice the length of the calycine segments, 

 and the latter as subulate. In all our specimens, both from Lord Auckland and Campbell's Islands, as also in 

 those of Antarctic America, the tube of the corolla is a little longer than the calyx, sometimes as much as one- 

 third, but it appears even more so before the expansion of the corolla ; and by subulate that author might have 

 alluded to the acuminated apex which the segments sometimes have. Though Forster's drawing does not exhibit 

 the calyx, it coincides too closely with the preserved specimen, and both with our plant, to leave any doubt in my 

 mind that we have here another instance of the similarity of the vegetation of the higher latitudes. Dr. Solander 

 indeed considers the New Zealand plant as a different variety from the Southern American, and in his MSS. 

 description of the southern species, to which I have access through the kindness of Mr. Brown, he separates the 

 former as " /3. floribus carneis (Forster), rami's glabriusculis. Frutex sesquipedalis." In Forster's drawing the 

 mineral white used to colour the flowers has become discoloured, and the pink alluded to by Dr. Solander 

 almost obscured ; in our specimens they are of a pure milk-white when fresh. The want of down on the branches 

 arises from age. 



In Lord Auckland's group this species attains a much larger size than it does in America, there seldom 

 exceeding four feet in height, whilst Forster describes the Dusky Bay tree as twelve feet, and I have seen it as 

 much as thirty on the margins of the woods close to the sea, where it may be readily distinguished by its pale 

 green foliage and erect branches. I saw but one specimen in full flower, growing on an inaccessible rock 

 overlooking Rendezvous Harbour ; from a distance it seemed powdered with white flowers. 



In New Zealand this genus is one of the most extensive of flowering plants, containing no less than 

 twenty-five species, of which four-fifths are shrubby or arborescent. Of these, ten were originally discovered 

 by Sir J. Banks and Dr. Solander during their visit to these islands, and are described in the MSS. above 

 alluded to. Under one of them, the V. macrocarpa, Dr. Solander dwells upon that peculiarity in the structure 

 of the fruit which separates many of them from the European forms of the genus : he writes, " Hsec, et quinque 

 sequentes, (V. sulicifolia, myrtifolia, stricta, pubescens, parvijlora,) a reliquis Veronicis diff'erunt, corolla subrin- 

 gente et cupsula apice integra acutiuscula, ut fere proprium constituant genus." Mr. Brown (Prodr. p. 434) 

 dwells more at length on this peculiarity, explaining the structure and its modifications, and further using it as 

 a sectional character. 



The extreme difficulty of determining the species of this section was also alluded to by Dr. Solander, who 

 continues in the MSS. above quoted, " valde atfines sunt, ut differentia specirica difficillime eruatur, prsecipue 

 si specimina sicca consulantur ; nee ilia sine capsulis distinguere possibile est. Plantae autem viva? habitu dis- 

 crepant, facillimeque tunc dignoscuntur, ut alias species esse distinctas credam." This difficulty has not been 

 a little increased by the accession of new species, similar to the above in form ; and the whole genus is now so 

 large as to require a complete remodelling ; this is expected from the pen of Mr. Bentham, to whom 1 am 

 indebted for the discrimination of my species. As his remarks bear reference to all the Auckland and Campbell's 

 Island species, I shall avail myself of his kind permission to give the definition of the sections under which they 

 will be arranged. " For this section," Mr. Bentham says, " I adopt as sectional Jussieu's name of Hebe, 

 with the character : capsula septicido-bipartibilis, carpeliis dorso breviter intus profunde bifidis. Placentte 

 stipitatre. Folia crassiuscula, nitida, glaberrima, omnia opposita. Racerni axillares, v. ad apices ramorum corym- 

 bosi, v. paniculati. Corolla tubus latitudine vix longior v. rarius brevissimus." Of this section there are five 

 subsections, almost wholly composed of New Zealand species ; under the second of these, this and the two follow- 



i 2 



