Falkland^, etc.] FLORA ANTAECTICA. 239 



1. Pringlea antiscorhdica, Brown, MSS. in Herb. Banks. (Tab. XC.-XCI.) 



Radix (seu rhi:oma) prostrata, longe repens, 2-3 pedalis, crassa, diametro 1-2 unc, teres, transverse annulata, 

 sublignosa, sapore Cochlearia Armoracia, pra?cipue versus basin fibras crassas divisas rainosas ernittens, ad apicem 

 foliorum capitulum magnum scaposque 1-2 elongatos gerens. Folia imbrieata, in capitulum, Brassicce oleracetB 

 magnitudine fomiaque, referens disposita, 3-6 unc. longa, latissime obovato-spathulata, basi in petioliun latum 

 attenuate, eamoso-coriacea, concava, margine integenima, ciliata, interdiun pubescentia, intus vasibus oleo subti- 

 lissimo repletis percursa. Pedunculi infra folia e rhizomate orti, ascendentes, 2-3-pedales, foKosi, sulcati, crassitie digi- 

 tis humana?, intus spongiosi, foliis plurimis imbricatis late obovatis sessilibus tecti. Racemus fructiferus elongatus, 

 6 unc. ad pedalem, e siliculis perplurhrris dense congestis subclavatus. Pedicelli clavati, erecti. Sejxda oblonga, 

 obtusa, dorso pilosa. Petala nulla ! (Anderson MSS.). Stamina parva, filamentis dilatatis. Silicula f— 1 unc. longa?, 

 oblongo-lanceolata?, v. breviter oblonga?, erectse, pubescentes v. patentim pilosa?, pilis simpUcibus, rarius glabra? ; 

 valvis coriaceis, dorso convexis, obscure uninerviis ; replo gracili, persistente ; placentis biserialibus, e dissepimento 

 retracto fungosis. Semina perplurima, majuscula, 1 lin. longa, subimbricata, e funiculo valido arcuato pendula, 

 ovato-cordata, subcompressa, deorsum in rostnun breve obtusum producta ; testa crassa, spongiosa, albida ; cotyle- 

 donibus acciunbentibus, radieula mediocri a?quilonga. 



This is perhaps the most interesting plant procured during the whole of the voyage performed in the Antarctic 

 Seas, growing as it does upon an island the remotest of any from a continent, and yielding, besides this esculent, 

 only seventeen other flowering plants. 



I am unable to point out any very close affinity which this curious genus may have with others of the same 

 natural family, and shall therefore confine myself to enumerating its peculiarities, and how far these may be common 

 to others of the order to which it belongs. 



The long stout rhizoma is very similar to the root of the Coclrfearia Armoracia (Horse-radish), and not altogether 

 different from that of the common kail or cabbage, which is however an annual plant, whilst the root-stocks of 

 Pringlea and of the Horse-radish are perennial. In the forrn of the head of leaves, the resemblance to the 

 common cabbage {Brassica oleracea) is most striking, and so is the use both are put to; but this analogy cannot 

 be carried further ; our garden escident bears its flowers on a branching stem, that rises from amongst the leaves 

 and is a continuation of the axis of growth of the plant, and it is chiefly owing to a check in the development of 

 the parts connected with the inflorescence, or a complete suppression of those parts, that the annual leaves are in- 

 creased in number and assume the densely capitate fonn ; here, on the other hand, the annual flower-stalks spring 

 invariably from the base of the cluster of perennial leaves and are wholly independant of them, as occurs in the 

 horse-radish, in various Drabas, in Arabk Macloviana, and in some other perennial Crucifera more frequently inhabi- 

 tants of cold climates. But it is in the parts of the inflorescence that the most important botanical characters re- 

 side, and by them the position of tliis plant must be determined in the natural series. The flowers though care- 

 fully sought, escaped my observation, owing to the lateness of the season of our arrival. Broken sepals and small 

 stamens, with short dilated filaments and oblong-lanceolate anthers, of a dark colour, were all I coidd detect ; the 

 stigma is peltate and quite entire. 



The silicula accords in fonn with that of several Ali/ssinea, to which group in De Candolle's arrangement 

 Pringlea must be referred. There is no marked difference, except size, between the valves in this genus and Cochlearia ■ 

 the septum, wholly absent here, is fenestrate in C.fenestrata, Br., a native of Arctic America, whilst the clavate 

 peduncle, short style and broad peltate stigma, are very characteristic of other species of that genus. The presence 

 or absence of a dissepiment, at all times spurious in the order, and of which there is a partial suppression in a genus 

 usually provided with a complete one, cannot be considered a character of the greatest importance though very 

 conspicuous ; nor do we in any case find its absence in Crucifera with the more ordinary structure of seed-vessels to 

 indicate any affinity between the plants thus characterized. In Cochlearia the septum is easily separable into the two, 

 plates of which it is composed, as observed by Brown, and close to the septum the origins of these plates are remote, so 



