10 
AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
high winds must co-operate in producing most unfavourable conditions for plant-life, 
and will go far towards explaining the poverty of the flora in Macquarie Island and 
the other islands of the subantarctic zone. 
III. HISTORY OF BOTANICAL EXPLORATION. 
Although Macquarie Island was discovered as early as 1810, it was not until 
1830 that any knowledge was obtained of its vegetation. In that year, or thereabouts, 
Mr. C. Fraser, then Superintendent of the Sydney Botanical Gardens, sent to Sir W. J. 
Hooker, at Kew, a small collection of eight species of plants. It is not known how 
Mr. Fraser obtained the specimens; but it must have been through the agency of one 
of the sailing vessels which at that time were regularly trading between Macquarie 
Island and Sydney. The following is a list of the species, all of which are briefly 
mentioned in the first volume of Sir J. D. Hooker’s Flora Antarctica 
Accena cidscendens Yahl. 
Accena Sanguisorbce Vahl. 
Azorella Selago Hook. f. 
Pleurophyllum Hookeri Buch. 
Cotula plumosa Hook. f. 
Luzula crinita Hook. f. 
Poa foliosa Hook. f. 
Aspidium vestitum Swartz. 
It is worth mention that although the list is a small one, it nevertheless includes the 
whole of the conspicuous species of the florula, with the exception of Stilbocarpa polaris. 
It is difficult to imagine how such a striking plant was omitted from the collection, for 
it must have been noticed. 
For half a century no further information was obtained, but near the close of 
1880 Dr. J. H. Scott, of the Otago University, made a short visit for the special purpose 
of investigating the flora and fauna. On his return, he published the results of his 
observations in a paper printed in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 
(vol. XV, p. 484). This is the first published account of the physical features of the 
island and its natural productions, and thus possesses considerable importance. Many 
of his remarks on the character of the vegetation and its physiognomy are of value for 
the purposes of this memoir, and I propose to reproduce portions of some of them, 
preserving as far as possible his own words :— 
“ The general appearance of a Macquarie Island landscape is barren in the 
extreme. There is not a tree or shrub, and what vegetation there is has a great 
deal of sameness, long stretches of yellowish tussock, with occasional patches of 
the bright green Stilbocarpa polaris, or of the peculiar sage green Pleurophyllum. 
These, with the rich brown mosses near the hill-tops, are all that strike the eye on 
