Systematic Botany.} SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 401 



Caryophyllacbae. 

 Stellaria decipiens, Hook. f. 



Stellaria decipiens, Hook, f., Fl. Antarct., i, 7 (1844) ; Ic. Plant., t. 680 



(1845). 



Auckland and Campbell Islands : Not uncommon in the lower portions of the 

 islands, especially in the woods and near the sea ; Hooker, Kirk ! Chapman ! and 

 many others. Macquarie Island : A. Hamilton. (Endemic.) 



Stellaria decipiens, Hook, f., var. angustata, T. Kirk. 



Stellaria decipiens, Hook, i., var. angustata, T. Kirk, Students' Fl., 57 

 (1899). 



Antipodes Island : Tussock meadow, not uncommon ; Kirk ! Chapman ! 

 Cockayne ! (Endemic.) 



Hooker compares the typical state of S. decipiens with the naturalised S. 

 media, which differs in having a pubescent line down each side of the branches, 

 and in the more distinctly cymose inflorescence. Extreme states of the variety 

 angustata have a very distinct appearance, but I have seen specimens collected by 

 Kirk in which the leaves are broader and shorter, thus approaching the ordinary 

 form. 



Colobanthus muscoides, Hook. f. 



Colobanthus muscoides. Hook, f., Fl. Antarct., i, 14 (1844) ; Homb. & Jacq., 

 " Voyage au Pole sud," Bot., t. 17 (1853). 



Snares : Confined to a patch of swampy ground ; Kirk ! Auckland, Camp- 

 bell, and Antipodes Islands : Maritime rocks and cliffs, abundant ; Hooker and 

 all collectors. Macquarie Island : Rocky beaches and cliffs ; A. Hamilton. 

 (Endemic.) 



This is evidently an abundant plant on maritime rocks and cliffs, forming large 

 dense rounded cushions 3-18 in. diam., or even more. Mr. Kirk remarks that these 

 cushions consist of " the partially decomposed stems and leaves of old plants and 

 the roots of young plants. The seeds often germinate in the capsule, and it is no 

 uncommon thing to find capsules still attached to the stem and with apparently 

 perfect seeds imbedded some 3 in. or 4 in. below the sarface of the mass, the old 

 surface having been covered with a growth of young plants too quickly to allow 

 of the germination of the buried seeds," 



Colobanthus Billardieri, Fenzl 



Colobanthus Billardieri, Fenzl in Ann. Wien Mus., i, 49 (1836) ; Hook, f., 

 Fl. Antarct., i, 14 (1844). 



Auckland Islands : Carnley Harbour ; Kirk ! Campbell Island : Banks near the 

 sea ; Hooker, Kirk, Laing ! Antipodes Island : Kirk. Macquarie Island : Hamilton. 

 (New Zealand, from the East Cape southwards ; Victoria ; Tasmania.) 



Although this species has been recorded from the whole of the southern islands 

 except the Snares, it does not seem to be at all abundant, and I have seen but few 



27— S. 



