Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/92

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FLORA ANTARCTICA.
[Auckland and

3. Thelymitra ? uniflora, Hook. fil.; perianthii foliolis exterioribus ovato-oblongis acutis, interioribus obovato-lanceolatis breviter acuminatis, labello late obovato-spathulato subcuneato basi depresso, cuculli lobulis lateralibus erectis apice bifidis medio uninerviis imberbibus, anthera subterminali.

Hab. Lord Auckland's group; on the bare ground and growing in tufts of moss, Forstera, &c, on the bleak hills.

Of this species I possess only the old scapes, which are about six inches long, each bearing a solitary capsule, with the withered perianth. The leaves I have never seen, but there are traces of sheaths or leaves on the scape, and of a larger one, probably a bractea, below the flower. The capsule is turgid, elliptical-obovate, erect, about half an inch long and quite glabrous. The leaflets of the perianth are rather shorter than the capsule and strongly nerved, as is the labellum, which is rounded at the lower extremity, with a short apiculus. The anther is inserted a little below the apex of the column.

I am very uncertain as to the genus of this plant; it differs from any with which I am acquainted; yet I am unwilling, in the absence of better specimens, to constitute a new one of it. In the petaloid, very distinct lateral lobes of the column, which is 3-cleft nearly to the base, it shows some analogy to Diuris, and in the terminal anther to the group which includes Caladenia and many other New Holland Orchideæ. The regular and nearly equal leaflets of the perianth, to which the labellum is very similar in form and structure, induce me to retain it among Thelymitræ. It is further undoubtedly nearly allied to a plant included by Mr. Gunn under the genus Macdonaldia (vid. Lindl. Swan River Botany, p. 50. no. 217, and Gen. and Sp. Orchid, p. 385), which contains two Tasmanian species, one M. Smithiana, Lindl. (l. c. t. 9. B.), in which the column is undivided or obliquely trifid or three-lobed; the rounded anther is situated below the apex of the column, on its inner face, and is villous; in the colour and appearance also of the plant, and in the shape of the leaflets of the perianth, it differs from Thelymitra. The other species, M. cyanea, Lindl., very much resembles the more ordinary forms of Thelymitra in size, habit, colour, and in the shape of the perianth; in the more terminal acute anther, and in the lateral lobes of the column being produced upwards beyond the anther and bifid at the apex, it agrees with the T. ? uniflora.

4. Caladenia sp. ?; folio lineari acuto parce glanduloso-piloso, perianthii foliolis subæquilongis dorsali late ovato acuto lateralibus ovato-lanceolatis interioribus lanceolatis subacutis, labello sub-quadrato unguiculato disco nudo.

Hab. Lord Auckland's group; amongst moss in the woods near the sea.

This apparently belongs to the genus Caladenia, but it is in a very young state, and the glands on the labellum are probably undeveloped. The roots are small, oblong tubers, connected by a terete cauliculus. Leaves ½—2 inches long. The only flowers I possess are just emerging from a large cucullate bractea; they are of a pale flesh-colour mixed with yellow.

5. Caladenia sp. ?; foliis ovato-lanceolatis acutis parce piloso-glandulosis seu glabriusculis, perianthii foliolis exterioribus extus glandulosis lateralibus linearibus obtusis dorsali latiore, interioribus anguste linearibus obtusis, labello obovato-cuneato basi seriebus 2 glandularum ornato.

{[sc|Hab.}} Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island; amongst moss in the woods, not uncommon.

What I take to be the leaves of this plant (for though growing along with the scapes they were not attached to them) are solitary or rarely two together, arising from a short cauliculus terminating in an elongated tuber and throwing out stout horizontal fibres from its lower extremity. The withered scapes, which