778 C. SK.OTTSBERG 



his reference to BEECllEV's plant. Under Libertia its name has to be L. sessili- 

 ^ora (Poepp.), certainly another unwelcome change of a long established name. 

 It remained to find out what the mysterious SisyrincJiiuDi from Juan P'er- 

 nandez was. Thanks to the kindness of Dr. CllARLES Baehni I have been able 

 to examine a sheet of Bertero 1316 from Herb. Delessert, Geneva. It is 

 labelled "1316 Sisyrinchium.? ex insula Juan Fernandez misit D^ Larrain n!iI£ 1828 

 D. Bertero", and is, as could be foreseen, typical Lihcrtia fornwsa Gx'A\\.\lv\\ii^^ 

 Bertero 13 16 was a mixture of two very different things it is difficult to un- 

 derstand how Klatt could identify a large- and white-flowered species with the 

 small- and blue-flowered coernlescens. 



41. Peperomia fernandeziana Miq. Skottsb. 3. 115, 5. 158. 

 Add Masatierra : near summit of El Yunque, Tenz no. 82! 



53. Spergularia confertiflora Steud. Plate 57:31 — 33. Skottsb. 3. 121. 



Since my paper was published, Mrs. ROSSBACH has monographed Spergu- 

 laria from North and South America. L. conferfijlora is considered to be en- 

 demic in Juan Fernandez, var. polyphylla (Phil.) Skottsb. is merged into the spe- 

 cies, and var. glaberrima referred to .S. media (L.) Presl. She overlooked that 

 what passes as genuine coiifertiflora has been collected also on San Ambrose 

 Island. I still think that we have better to retain polyphylla as a variety or form 

 (Plate 57: 33), and even if I am prepared to admit that glaberrima stands just 

 as near, or even nearer to media than to confertiflora, I find it impossible to 

 unite them. L. c. 122 I mentioned Ji. remotiflora Steud., comparing it with a 

 lax-flowered form of confertiflora, while Mrs. RosSBAcn brings it to villosa (Pers.) 

 Camb., a closely allied species. 



Area of distribution: Juan Fernandez. San Ambrosio. 



The type of my var. glaberrima is no. 411, of which Mrs. RosSBACH exam- 

 ined a number of specimens. She remarks that it differs somewhat from ordinary 

 vS. media. Wliile I agree that it should be removed from confertiflora, I cannot 

 simply refer it to media. It differs from this by its stout, woody caudex and 

 branches, the total lack of pubescence, smaller, mucronulate leaves (4 — 7 mm 

 long by 0.6 — 2 mm wide), shorter stipules (1.5 — 2.5 mm), smaller flowers with 

 few stamens, and smaller, minutely tuberculate, generally unwinged seeds; in 

 media the seeds are smooth or very slightly roughened, as a rule winged and 

 0.8 — I mm large. I know i)". media from the continent and also from the Falkland 

 Islands. It is not possible to leave the plant growing on Masafuera as a variety 

 of confertiflora, nor is it advisable to let it disappear under the Cosmopolitan 

 media. Consequently, it is segregated here as a species. I would have preferred 

 to use the varietal name for it, but as one cannot feel sure that an older glaber- 

 rima will not turn up some day under Spergularia, or Spergula, with which the 

 former is united by man}-, I have found it safer to give it new name. 



*Spergularia masafuerana n. sp. 5. coifertiflora Steud. var. glaberrima 

 Skottsb. 3.123; 5. media, RO-SSBACH i. 121,2.240. — Plate 57:34. 



