FLORISTIC REGIONS 119 



Aconcagua of such typical Antarctic species as the 

 Tussock-grass (Poa flabellata Hook, fil.) and Hierochloe 

 redolens R. Br., with the genera Pernettya, Ac&na, and 

 Azorella, suggests that they may have been driven north- 

 ward and upward by an Antarctic Glacial Period. 



In the low ground near the Straits of Magellan, as in 

 the wind-swept Falkland Islands, forests give place to 

 open peat-moors, with Rushes, Ranunculi, Cranberries, 

 and Tussock-grass, which last extends to South Georgia. 

 Among other characteristic species in the Falkland 

 Islands are the Balsam -bog (Azorella glebaria A. Gray), 

 a cushion-forming Umbellifer, the Red Crowberry (Em- 

 petrum rubrum Vahl), and the stunted Myrtus num- 

 mularia Poir. 



Belonging to the same southern and treeless division 

 of the Fuegian flora are the isolated islands of Kerguelen 

 (49 S., 70 E.) and Marion (47 S., 40 E.), united by the 

 remarkable endemic wind-pollinated crucifer Pringlea 

 antiscorbutica R. Br. (Fig. i), the tufts of the Fuegian 

 balsam-bog Azorella Selago Hook, fil., and the cushions 

 of Accena adscendens Vahl, which ranges from Chile to 

 New Zealand. Macquarie Island (55 S., 160 E.), with 

 a treeless flora almost as impoverished as that of South 

 Georgia, having but sixteen species of Phanerogams, 

 also produces Azorella Selago, though it is, on the whole, 

 more related to the south of New Zealand, as are the 

 Auckland Isles (50 S., 170 E.) and Campbell Island 

 (52 S., 170 E.), united by the handsome endemic 

 asphodel Chrysobactron Rossii Hook. fil. They, how- 

 ever, have some low hills with stunted evergreen trees, 

 including species of Veronica, the widespread myrtaceous 

 Metrosideros, and the epacrid Dracophyllum which 

 extends northward into New Caledonia. In spite of the 

 persistent north-west winds of the " roaring forties " 

 and the resultant Antarctic Drift, it is difficult to 

 attribute the dispersal of species through these many 

 degrees of longitude entirely to the ordinary or normal 

 agencies of to-day. That a milder climate once pre- 

 vailed, when plants may have passed from South 

 America to New Zealand even by way of the Antarctic 

 Continent, is indicated by lignites containing tree stems 

 which occur on Kerguelen Land. 



NEW ZEALAND. Few floras are as interesting in their 

 geographical affinities as is that of New Zealand. Form- 



