Antarctic Plants in Polynesia 301 



the occurrence in Tristan da Cunha, Kerguelen, St. Paul, New 

 Amsterdam, and Masafuera of Magellanian or Neo-Zelandic 

 Unciniae. Perhaps the presence of Uncinia in Hawaii and the 

 PhiHppines may be explained in the same way. But it is surpris- 

 ing that no representative of it has been found on the high moun- 

 tains of Malaya or the peaks of Melanesia and Polynesia. 



Lagenophora is distributed in much the same way as Uncinia, 

 The 7 species in New Zealand, together with the 4 in Australia 

 (of which L. Billardieri ranges north to New Guinea, Malaya, 

 and the Philippines), form the greater part of the genus. The 3 

 subantarctic- American species and the 4 Pacific species (i Fiji, 

 3 Hawaii) are connected, the former with the small L. pumila, 

 etc., the latter with the more robust L. Billardieri. In this genus, 

 as in Uncinia, we do not find a closer connection between Hawaii 

 and South America than between Hawaii and Australasia. 



Finally, we have Oreobolus, a remarkable genus possessing 

 the most primitive flower structure found in the family, and 

 adapted to live in bogs in a very wet and chilly climate. Of its 5 

 species, 3 are endemic in New Zealand and eventually reach the 

 subantarctic islands (i of these also extends to Tasmania and the 

 AustraHan alps) ; i is found in the Andes, Tierra del Fuego, and 

 the Falkland Islands, with an outlying station in Masafuera; and 

 I is endemic in the Hawaiian Islands. All are closely related. 

 The Hawaiian species seems to be nearer to the American one 

 than to any other. 



Lists of "Antarctic" plants always include the more or less 

 circumpolar Nertera depressa (or granadensis, which is sup- 

 posed by some to be the more correct name), but its Antarctic 

 nature seems questionable. The genus is Indomalayan-Neo- 

 Zelandic, with i species in China, i in Formosa, i or perhaps 2 

 in the Philippines, i in Australia, and 5 in New Zealand. En- 



