Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/424

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388
FLORA ANTARCTICA.
[Fuegia, the

sub 5-floris, palea inferiore lineari-ovata obtusa infra apicem arista brevi capillaeea instructa 7-nervi inferne sericeo-puberula.

Has. Strait of Magalliaens ; Port Gregory, Copt. King.

Gramen pedale. Culmus simplex, basi geniculatus, erectus, gracilis, strictus, puberulus. Folia pauca, eubuo breviora ; vagina striata ; ligula ovata, lacera ; lamina vagina brevior, pilosa, involuta. Panicula 2 unc. longa. Locustee fere pollicares, -| unc. latae. Flosculi nervosi, superne glaberrimi, nitidi, inferne dorso sericei; arista i fiosculi Eequans, scabernla. Palea superior inferiori aequilonga, sed -i- angustior.

A very distinct little species, only found in the eastern parts of the Strait of Magalliaens, and more characteristic nf the grassy plains of Patagonia than of an Antarctic vegetation.

17. ELYMUS, L.

1. Elymtjs A?itarc(iciis,~H.ook.ti[.; erectus, glabemrnus, panicula spicseformi lineari-oblonga, spiralis binis collateralibus 2-floris, glumis subsequalibus lanceolatis aristato-acuminatis integris v. bifidis uervosis, flosculis brevissime pedicellatis, palea inferiore lanceolata in aristam gluuia breviorem desinente 5-uervi superne puberula, superiore brevissime bidentata, foliis planis vaginis brevioribus.

Hab. Strait of Magalliaens; Port Famine, Copt. King.

Culmi erecti, bipedales, subvalidi, foliosi, glaberrimi. Folia coriacea sed non rigida, culmo breviora; vagina teres, striata, 5 unc. longa ; ligula brevissima; lamina bneari-subidata, utrinque laevis, basi plana, superne marginibus involutis, gradatim acuminata, 3-4 unc. longa. Panicula 3-4-uncialis, stricta, erecta, continua, unc. lata. Locustee erectae, imbricatae, appressae, scaberulae. Glumes libera?, ad basin cujusvis articulationis quatema?, quarum exterior lateris unici sfepe ad medium fissa evadit, fere ± unc. longae, aristatae. Flosculi cum aristis -| unc. longi, inferior vix, superior longius, pedicellatus ; arista paleis paido brevior.

This a good deal resembles a Chilian species, which possesses longer aristae to the glumes and palea, and is otherwise different. One glume out of the four at each articulation is often bifid, this is always the outer, and all such are on one side of the panicle only. The general appearance is not dissimilar to that of Elymus Europceus, from which the present species may be distinguished at once by the glumes being free to the base.

18. HOEDEUM, L.

1. HonvEVMJubahim, Linn., S_p.Pl. 126. KuntJi, En. Plant, vol. i. p. 457.

Hab. Strait of Magalliaens ; Port Famine, Capt. King.

North American specimens do not appear to differ from the Magellanic, or from others gathered at Cape I'airweather. I find the sheaths of the (old) leaves sometimes pilose, whence it seems very probable that the Chilian H. carnosum, Presl, is oidy a state of this plant which varies a good deal in size, in the stoutness of the culm, and length of its panicle. H. juoatum had been considered as confined to North America, where it ranges from the Missouri to the Saskatchewan, and from Boston to the Colombia river.

2. Hoedetjm pubiflorum, Hook, fib; spicis obkmgis, glumis aequilongis omnibus setaceis basi pubescentibns superne scabridis, flosculis lateralibus neutris, intermedio basi setula aueto, palea inferiore scabrido-palois lanceolata arista glumis aequilonga terminata, foliis caubnis longe vaginantibus radicalibus subsetaceis.

Hab. Strait of Magalliaens ; Port Famine, Capt. King.