THE VASCULAR FLORA OF MACQUARIE ISLAND.—CHEESEMAN. 
29 
This fine plant was one of the eight species collected on Macquarie island prior 
to 1832, and forwarded to Ivew by Mr. 0. Fraser. Since then, it has been observed by 
all visitors interested in the vegetation of the island. Dr. Scott states “ This, like the 
Stilbocarpa, occurs in large patches all over the island, and is the handsomest plant 
thereon. Its long sage-green leaves and purple flowers make it particularly noticeable.” 
A. Hamilton remarks “ This handsome plant was long past flowering when we landed, 
and the tips of the silvery leaves were frost-bitten. The last flowering did not seem to 
have been very general, as a very small percentage bore the dry flower-spikes. On one 
plant there were nine of these, bearing the remains of 164 flowers. The seedlings, even 
when the leaves are less than three inches long, have strong stout rootlets which go 
down through the mass of vegetable matter in which they grow. There is absolutely 
no sand or loam for them to grow in—nothing but decayed vegetable matter. In a 
specimen before me, in which the leaves are about 20 mm. long, the rootlet is 160 mm. 
in length. Mr. Kirk notes that the leaves of the young plants approach those of 
P. criniferum more nearly than specimens from Auckland and Campbell Islands . . The 
silvery patches of this handsome plant show out plainly among the mosses and grasses 
in the drier parts of the swamps, and in sheltered places on the uplands.” 
Like Stilbocar'pa, Pleuropliyllum is a genus confined to the islands to the south 
of New Zealand, and like it has three well defined species, of which P. Hookeri is the 
only one that extends to Macquarie Island. Pleuropliyllum, however, is by no means 
so isolated in its characters as Stilbocarpa] for although its habit is most distinct, its 
floral characters are those of Olearia, Celmisia, Aster and Erigeron. Its nearest relatives 
are probably the macrocephalous species of Olearia. 
CoTULA PLUMOSA Hook. f . 
Cotula plumosa Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. FI. 1864, p. 141, and Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., vol. 
168 (1879), p. 20; T. Kirk Students’ FI. (1899), p. 323; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. FI. 
(1906), p. 352, andSubantarct. Islands of N.Z. II (1909), p. 416. Leptin ell a plumosa 
Hook. f. FI. Antarct. I (1844), p. 26, t. 20. 
Macquarie Island :—Abundant all along the shores of the island, on rocks and 
gravel, or in grassy places, but never far from the sea. Fraser ; Scott (1880) ; A. Hamilton 
(1894); H. Hamilton (1912-1913). 
According to Hooker (FI. Antarct. I, p. 27), this handsome plant, which is by 
far the finest species of the genus, was originally discovered on Macquarie Island, “ from 
whence specimens were received by Mr. Fraser in New Holland, and by him transmitted 
to England; but it is not ascertained who found them.” It has since been observed 
by all visitors to the island. It is also found on the Auckland Islands, Campbell Island, 
and Antipodes Island; and occurs in great quantities on Kerguelen Island and the 
Crozets. Hooker remarks that on Kerguelen it forms “ immense luxuriant blue-green 
patches where the soil is enriched by the dung of birds and seals.” No doubt the growth 
of the plant in Macquarie Island is influenced in a similar manner. 
