Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/257

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Falklands, etc.]
FLORA ANTARCTICA.
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meter; in others from Valdivia they are double that size, and even larger have been gathered by Mr. Cruickshanks near Valparaiso. It does not appear to inhabit the east coast of Patagonia ; but I have examined what I take to be a mutilated specimen, collected by Mr; Darwin in the central regions of that country near the river Santa Cruz, which flows from the Andes to the Atlantic.

4. Ranunculus peduncularis, Sm. m Sees Cyclop. BC. Syst. Teg. vol. i. p. 294. Prodr. vol. i. p. 41. Deless. Icon. vol. i. t. 42. Hook, and Am. in Pot. Miscett. vol. iii. p. 134.

Hab. Strait of Magalliaens; in the margins of woods; Commerson. Cape Negro ; C. Barwin, Esq. Closely allied to the last species, from which it seems constantly to differ in the narrow segments of the leaves, and the stouter and uniformly erect habit. The whole plant is more or less clothed with hairs, the Strait of Magalhaens specimens less so than those from more northern localities. It appears to be common in Chili on the western flanks of the Cordilleras, whence Dr. Gillies procured it at an altitude of 5000 feet, and Mr. Bridges upon the east slopes of that range, but it is not a native of the Atlantic side of South America. The R. polypetalus, Gillies MSS., is quoted in the Botanical Miscellany as a state of this species ; it may be distinguished, perhaps specifically, by the smaller size of the leaves, which are all radical, and their segments so remote that the leaf is truly pinnate, the scape too is single-flowered, and it approaches more nearly to a Peruvian species.

5. Ranunculus Maclovianus, D'Urv.; aeaulis v. subaeaulis, appresse pilosus, foliis raclicalibus longe petiolatis erectis reniformi-rotundatis trifiilis trilobatisve segrnentis grosse et acute dentatis, pedunculis folio brevioribus e ramulis abbreviatis ortis, sepalis villosis, petalis flavis spathulatis, capitulo globoso, carpellis glabriusculis, stylo brevi subuncinato. R. Maclovianus, B'Urv. in Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris, vol. iv. p. 615. Gaud, in Freyc. Toy. Pot. p. 136. R. parvihorus, Gaud, in Ann. Sc. Nat. vol. v. p. 105.

Hab. Falkland Islands; moist places, abundant; Gaudieliand , B'Urville, J. D. H. and Br. By all.

Caulis nullus v. abbreviatus. Folia fere omnia radicalia ; petioli 2-6 unc. longi, graciles, suberecti; lamina basi profunde cordata, -j- § imc. lata, pilis flavis sericeis utrinque tecta. Pedtinculi 3-5, rarius solitarii, a_a unc. longi, erecti, radicales v. e ramis abbreviatis orti. Sepala 5, ovata, obtusa, trinervia, demum subreflexa. Petala sepalis longiora, medio squama instructa. Carpella ovata, turgida, glabra v. laxe et sparse pilosa. This plant is most nearly allied to the R. ChUemis, which I have noticed as a very variable species, but the present is smaller and more slender in all its parts, the leaves are all radical and it never creeps. "Walpers (Eepertor. vol. i. p. 44), erroneously quotes, as a variety of this, the R. e.viffieus, D'Urv., which is, however, certainly a state of R. biternatus, Sm.

6. Ranunculus sericocephalus, Hook. fil. ; depressus, acaulis, totus pilis fulvis sericeis dense vestitus, foliis raclicalibus stellatim patentibus orbiculari-renifonnibus irregulariter 3-7-fidis lobis grosse crenato-dentatis, pedunculis brevissimis, floribus parvis inconspicuis, carpellis dense sericeis. (Tab. LXXXIII.)

Hab. Falkland Islands; on moist banks with the former; Mr. Chartres, J. B.H. and Dr. Lyall.

Planta pusilla, depressa, valde inconspicua, tota pilis flavis sericeis patentibus tecta. Caules brevissimi v. nulli. Folia stellatim patentia, petiolo A unc. longo ; lamina basi cordata, plerumque 5-fida, rarius trifida v. trilobata, snbeoriacea, a unc. lata. Flares inter foha subsessiles ; pedicelh interdmn e ramis brerissimis orti. Sepala late ovata, intus 3-nervia, patentia. Petala angnste spathidata, obtusa, flava, versus medium squama parva instructa. Carpella phis patentibus obtecta ; stylo brevi uncinate

Though in many respects closely allied to the former, this seems to me quite a different species; while