16 
AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
IV. ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES. 
ranunculaceh;. 
Ranunculus biternatus Smith. 
Ranunculus biternatus Smith in Rees’s Cyclop. XXIX (1802) n. 48; Schenk in Pflanzen- 
geographie der Snbantarktischen Insel (1905), p. 26 t. 12, c.d.; WildemanRes. Voy. 
“ Belgica ” (1905), p. 89; Cheesem. Subantarctic Islands of N.Z. II (1909), p. 398. 
R. crassipes Hook. f. FI. Antarct. II (1847), p. 224 t. 81, also Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 
vol. 168 (1879), p. 17; T. Kirk Students’ FI. (1899), p. 17; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. 
FI. (1906), p. 26. 
Macquarie Island :■—Not uncommon in the lower parts of the island, in swampy 
places and in the shelter of the tussocks of Poajoliosa. Scott (1880); A. Hamilton (1894); 
H. Hamilton (1912-1913). 
First collected by Dr. Scott. He referred his specimens, which were little more 
than scraps, to R. acaulis Banks and Sol. A. Hamilton remarks that it is very variable 
in size. This is borne out by Mr. H. Hamilton’s specimens, some of which have 
petioles 20 cm. long, with the lamina of the leaf 4 cm. diameter ,while the fruit is borne 
on peduncles 4 to 5 cm. long. On the other hand, depauperated states growing on 
wet gravel among tufts of Colobanthus muscoides, have leaves barely 5 mm. diameter, 
on petioles about the same length, while the fruit is almost sessile. A. Hamilton states 
that in exposed situations the carpels become scarlet when fully ripe, and are very 
conspicuous. 
Ranunculus biternatus, taken in a wide sense, has an extensive geographical 
range. It has been found in Fuegia, Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Kerguelen, 
Marion and Crozet, Islands, and New Amsterdam. The Kerguelen and Macquarie Island 
plant was separated by Hooker from that found in Fuegia and Falkland Islands (the 
original R. biternatus) on account of its greater size, more succulent habit, and less 
divided leaves with broader segments. But these are variable characters of com¬ 
paratively small importance, and on reviewing the matter at a later date in the Philo¬ 
sophical Transactions (vol. 168, p. 17), Hooker definitely stated that he could “ hardly 
doubt its being a derivative form of the Fuegian R. biternatus, with which it agrees in 
habit and in its thick-walled beaked carpels, but differs chiefly in its robustness and 
simple leaves.” The more recent discovery of true R. biternatus in South Georgia and 
Marion Island is an additional argument in favour of the unity of the two plants. Both 
Dr. Schenk, in his “ Plant Geography of the Subantarctic Islands,” and Wildeman, 
in the “ Results of the Voyage of the Belgica,” have adopted this view. Dr. 
Skottsberg, however, in his memoir on the relations between the iioras of sub¬ 
antarctic America and New Zealand (Plant World, May, 1915), is inclined to maintain 
the distinctness of the two plants on the ground that there are differences in the flower 
and fruit. I have not sufficient material of the South American plant to investigate 
this point. 
