10 FLORA OF TASMANIA. 
A very small, villous or hairy species. — Stems many, from one annual (?) root, spreading, procumbent, 2-6 inches 
long. Leaves radical and cauline, on slender petioles, three-lobed or three-parted ; segments broad, trifid, or almost 
entire. Flowers very minute indeed, yellow, sessile in the axils of the leaves, the lower ones sometimes on slender 
pedicels of variable length. Sepals linear, oblong, membranous, with long soft villous hairs. Petals narrow, spa- 
thulate, the linear claw longer than the limb. Nectary above the middle of the petal, large, deeply excavated, with 
a prominent scale ot lip. Receptacle villous. Carpels flat, with thickened borders, straight, flattened, triangular, 
somewhat curved styles, and their faces covered with small sharp warts, each often terminated by a hair. — I doubt 
this species proving eventually distinct from the European R. parvifloms, L., which is also found at the Cape of 
Good Hope and in North America. So far as I can judge from De Candolle's description, the R. Pumilio of Brown 
may be a variety with pedicelled flowers, which is still nearer the European plant, and I find sessile and pedicelled 
flowers on the same specimen. Mr. Gunn remarks that this is a most variable plant, and he does not distinguish 
the following from it. 
11. Ranunculus Pumilio (Br. in DC.-Syst. i. 271); patentim pilosus, caulibus perplurimis graci- 
libus decurnbentibus prostratisve Miosis, foliis longe petiolatis palmatiin v. pinnatim 3-5-sectis v. biternatim 
sectis, segmentis petiolatis varie in lobulos lineares incisis, floribus axillaribus pedicellatis, receptaculo gla- 
briusculo, carpellis ut in R. semlifloro sed magis piloso v. villoso. — DC. Prodr. i. 35. R. leptocaulis, Hook. 
Bot. Journ. i. 244, Qmp. Bot. Mag. i. 273. {Gunn, 230?) 
Var. fi.pilulifer; minor, foliis magis dissectis, floribus sessilibus pedicellatisve. — R. pilulifer, Rook. 
Ic. Plant, t. 600. (Gunn, 230.) 
Hab. Abundant, chiefly in swampy places, from the level of the sea to 3000 feet, Brown, Gunn. — (El. 
Nov. to Jan.) (*. v.) 
Distrib. Var. /3. Swan River. 
De Candolle's description seems to have been drawn up from very small, or probably seedling specimens, with 
some of which my small states perfectly agree. I suspect that it is not specifically distinct from R. sessiliflorus ; Mr. 
Gunn also has no doubt of their being forms of one another, and I only keep them distinct because I find no exactly 
intermediate specimens. In size each varies from an inch to a foot ; R. sessiliflorus is normally sessile-flowered, 
but occasionally pedicelled, has normally glabrous, but occasionally hairy carpels, and has generally a villous 
receptacle ; R. Pumilio has normally pedicelled, but occasionally sessile flowers, usually villous, but sometimes 
glabrous carpels, and a glabrous receptacle, with a few marginal hairs. In the ordinary course of events it may be 
assumed that an abundance of intermediate forms will be found. The petals of R. Pumilio are smaller, but the 
nectary is the same, and deformed petals of both are very common. The Swan River variety is intermediate in 
having almost glabrous carpels, usually sessile, but often pedicelled flowers, and much divided leaves. 
Nat. Ord. II. MAGNOLIACE^E. 
Gen. I. TASMANNIA, Br. in DC. Syst. i. 445. 
Flores dioici. Sepala 2. Petala 2-5, decidua. Stamina plurima, extrorsa. Ovarium 1 ; ovulis 2- 
seriatis. Fructus indehiscens. 
Dioecious or polygamous. Sepals two, deciduous. Petals 2-5, deciduous. Stamens many, hypogynous; 
anthers extrorse. Ovary solitary (rarely two), free, sessile ; ovules in two series ; stigma terminal, and running 
down the inner angle of the ovary. Fruit indehiscent. Seeds many, pendulous. — The only Tasmanian species is 
the well-known Pepper-plant of the Colony, which Mr. Brown selected for bearing the name of the discoverer of the 
Island. It congeners are one or two AustraUan species ; but the New Zealand, Chilian, and Bornean genus Drimys 
is so very nearly allied to it, that it may almost be considered the same. These are the southern representatives of 
the Magnolias of North America, China, India, and the Malay Islands, and, like them, have more or less aromatic 
