THE PHANEROGAMS OF THE JUAN FERNANDEZ ISLANDS 127 



Magnoliaceae. 

 Drimys Forst. 



58. D. Winteri Forst. var. confertifolia (Phil.) Joh.; JoHOW, Estud. 113. 



Masatierra: One of the commonest forest trees, ranging from 200 or 

 300 m to the highest ridges and forming the edge of the forest in wind-swept 

 places, where few other trees thrive. In the foggy region very old and large 

 trees were observed, with a thickness at the base hardly reached by any other 

 tree in the islands. Drimys inhabits the whole forested belt of Masatierra from 

 Pto Frances to Co Chumacera. Coll. fl. 3 /i 2 16, no. 6, 8 /i2 16, no. 88, fr. 21 / 4 17, 

 no. 88 b. 



Masafuera: in the higher parts of the montane region, generally forming 

 the limit of the forest; not seen at a much lower altitude than 500 m; Pasto, 

 Chozas and Mono valleys, 475 — 1100 m; one tree at the Correspondencia Camp, 

 1 1 30 m; ravine north of this place, c. 1200 m, greatest altitude observed; on 

 the western precipice, solitary trees above Buque Varado; C. del Barril, to 

 1 1 10 m (fr. 1 J3 17, no. 371); east slope of Los Inocentes, 740 — 1000 m. 



The oldest name for the island Drimys seems to be D. confertifolia Phil. 

 Anal. Univ. Chile 1856 (May), 163; in July the same year STEUDEL published 

 his D. fernandeziana. REICHE, Flora I. 27, used the combination D. Winteri 

 var. femandeziana Steud.. for he quoted Bot. Zeit. 1856 (Sept.!) for D. conferti- 

 folia Phil. STEUDEL did not, however, describe it as a variety, but as a species, 

 and thus we may use the name confertifolia (Phil.) Johow. According to STEUDEL 

 the island form differs from continental ones in the narrower leaves, which are 

 blunt or hardly acute, rufescent above, pale below and more aggregated, and 

 in the dioecious flowers. Philippt advanced that the leaves are densely aggreg- 

 ated, smaller, less whitish below and much shorter petiolate. MiERS, Ann. and 

 Mag. Nat. Hist. 1858, 48, described it as D. fernandezianus Miers (without 

 quoting other authors); the description was reprinted and an unsatisfactory figure 

 added in Contr. to Botany I (1861) 137, PI. 27 B. The differences between 

 MiERS' species and D. chilensis DC. are not at all better defined by him than 

 by other authors. JOHOW, who regards D. confertifolia as a variety, stated 

 that it differs in the smaller and more densely clustered leaves, and says that 

 the trees in Masafuera have more polished leaves than those from the other 

 island. Reiche 1. c. 27 described the leaves as aangostamente oblongas, casi 

 lineares, muy cortamente pecioladas». 



I shall not enter upon the question whether the continental forms all 

 belong to one species or not; but I cannot separate D. chilensis DC. or pani- 

 culate Steud. from D. Winteri, and I cannot regard the Juan Fernandez plant 

 as specifically distinct. It is true that many of the herbarium specimens studied 

 by Steudel, Miers, etc. have the leaves of the flowering branches comparatively 

 small and narrow, but if we study the living plant, we shall find that there is 

 a considerable variation in the size of the leaves, which often attain 12 — 13 X 

 3—4 cm, quite normal figures in continental forms. I need not tell that the 

 rufescent upper surface of the leaves spoken of by Steudel is due to desicca- 



