Systematic Botany.] 



SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



409 



Ligusticum acutifolium, T. Kirk. 



Ligusticum acutifolium, T. Kirk in Journ. Bot. (1891), 237 ; Students' FL, 

 201 (1899). 



The Snares : Rare and local ; Kirk ! Cockayne ! (Endemic.) 

 This must be considered as one of the rarest plants in the fiorula. Mr. Kirk 

 states that it was seen only in one place, at an altitude of about 350 ft. ; and Dr. 

 Cockayne informs me that, although special search was made, only one plant was 

 noticed by the recent expedition. As a species, it is very close to L. intermedium, 

 of which it must be considered a recent derivate form. Its chief differential charac- 

 ters, according to Kirk, are the total absence of the viscid milky juice so evident in 

 L. intermedium ; in the upper part of the sheath at the base of the petiole being free, 

 forming a hooded ligule ; in the more acute segments of the leaves ; and in the 

 smaller umbels and shorter fruits. I have seen specimens of the foliage only. 



Araliaceae. 

 Stilbocarpa polaris, A. Gray. 



Aralia folaris, Homb. & Jacq. MS., ex Hook, f., FL Antarct., i, 19 (1844) ; 

 Hook, f., Ic. Plant., t. 701 ; Homb. & Jacq., Bot. Voy. Astrol. et 

 Zel., 55, t. 2, Dicot. (1852). Stilbocarpa polaris, A. Gray, Bot. U.S. 

 Expl. Exped., 714 (1854). 



Auckland and Campbell Islands : Abundant from sea-level to a considerable 

 height on the hills ; Hooker and all subsequent collectors. Antipodes Island : 

 Plentiful over the greater portion of the island ; Kirk, Cockayne. Macquarie Island : 

 Abundant over the whole of the island ; Scott, Hamilton. (Endemic.) 



I have nothing to add to the excellent account of this most striking plant pub- 

 lished by Hooker in the " Flora Antarctica," and to the still more elaborate descrip- 

 tion given by Decaisne in the " Voyage au Pole sud." Hooker well remarks that it 

 is " one of the most handsome and singular of the vegetable productions in the group 

 of islands it inhabits, which certainly contains a greater proportion of large and 

 beautiful plants, relatively to the whole vegetation, than any country with which 

 I am acquainted. Growing in large orbicular masses, on rocks and banks near the 

 sea, or amongst the dense and gloomy vegetation of the woods, its copious bright- 

 green foliage and large umbels of waxy flowers, often nearly a foot in diameter, have 

 a most striking appearance." 



Stilbocarpa Lyallii, Armst., var. robusta, T. Kirk. 



Stilbocarpa Lyallii, Armst. in Trans. N.Z. Inst., xiii, 336 (1881), in part. 

 Aralia Lyallii, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst., xvii (1885), 295, var. 

 robusta, Journ. Bot., xxix, 237 (1895). 



The Snares : Not uncommon ; Kirk ! Cockayne, and other members of the 

 expedition. (Endemic.) 



I very much regret that my acquaintance with this fine plant is confined to a 

 single imperfect specimen collected by Kirk, no example having been brought back 

 by the members of the expedition. Kirk states that it differs from the type in being 



