The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage/Part I/Onagrarae
VII. ONAGRARIÆ, Juss.
1. Epilobium linnæoides, Hook. fil.; herbaceum glaberrimum caule repente vage ramoso, ramis divavicatis adscendentibus, foliis petiolatis cordato-rotundatis flaccidis argute dentatis, pedunculis solitariis axillaribus rarius terminalibus folio longioribus fructiferis sæpe valde elongatis, floribus erectis, sepalis apice glanduloso-apiculatis, petalis (roseis) calyce longioribus cuneatis profunde bifidis, stigmate indiviso clavato, fructibus glaberrimis erectis pedunculo brevioribus. (Tab. VI.)
Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island; abundant. Also more recently found amongst the mountains of New Zealand by Mr. Colenso.
A very pretty species, allied to the E. nummularfolium, R. Cunn., of New Zealand, but readily distinguished by its much larger size and thin, flaccid (not fleshy) leaves, which are strongly eroso-dentate. In Mr. Colenso's specimens the stems are longer, and the leaves less rounded in form with longer petioles. Stems weak, terete, 3–6 inches long. Leaves in rather remote pairs, bright green and shining above, often discoloured and purplish beneath, ⅓–½ inch long, sometimes broader than long. Petioles 1–3 lines. Peduncles, even when flowering, very variable in length, from ½–3 inches long, generally erect. Sepals concave, especially towards the apex, which is produced into a thickened, short, club-shaped apiculus or gland. Petals about half as long again as the sepals, 1½ lin. long, of a pale rose-colour, bifid nearly half-way down. Filaments thickened at the connectivum. Style gradually swelling upwards into a club-shaped obtuse stigma. Capsule (which I have seen ripe only in the New Zealand specimens) narrow, erect, quite glabrous, about an inch long.
Plate VI. Fig. 1, flower spread open; fig. 2, petal; fig. 3, flower with the petals removed; fig. 4, front, and fig. 5, back view of a stamen:—all magnified.
2. Epilobium confertifolium, Hook. fil.; herbaceum, glabrum, caule repente radicante ramoso, ramis divaricatis decumbentibus teretibus cum lineis duabus oppositis incanis, foliis oppositis valde approximatis subimbricatis breviter petiolatis oblongo-obovatis obtusis subcarnosis glaberrimis remote
et obscure dentatis, petiolis margine incanis basi connatis subvaginantibus, pedunculis sessilibus solitariis axillaribus, floribus erectis, petalis rubris subpurpureisve ad medium bifidis, ovario glaberrimo, stylo oblique clavato, capsula lineari elongata glaberrima.—Hook. fil. in Icon. Plant, t. 685.
Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island; on grassy banks and in moist places, abundant.
This little plant in every respect occupies the place in these islands, that the E. alpinum, L., does on the European mountains. The two species are indeed so very closely allied, that I look in vain for further constant characters than the creeping and rooting much-branched stem, the densely crowded, broader, and more obovate leaves with almost sheathing petioles, and the deeply bifid petals of the present one. The more remarkable points of similarity, besides the general appearance, are the lines of pubescence on the stem, the sessile or shortly pedunculated ovaria (which in E. alpinum are however often lengthened), the deep colour of the petals, and the simple clavate stigma, which is here decidedly oblique and gibbous at the base. A very similar species is found on the Andes of Peru and in Chili.
3. Epilobium nerterioides, A. Cunn.; glaberrimum, caule repente radicante, foliis oppositis breviter petiolatis ellipticis rotundatisve subcoriaceis et carnosis marginibus integris recurvis, fructibus glaberrimis pedunculatis inclinatis pendulisve.—E. nerterioides, A. Cunn. Prodr. Flor. Nov. Zeal, in Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. iii. p. 32.
Hab. Lord Auckland's group; in moist rocky places, alt. 1200 feet, rare, not found in flower or fruit.
In these very imperfect specimens the leaves are much more fleshy, and their margins more strongly recurved, than in others gathered by Mr. Menzies in Dusky Bay, or by myself in the Bay of Islands. Like other species however of the same genus, the plant is probably a very variable one. Mr. Cunningham quotes the E. pendulum, Sol., as a synonym of E. nummularifolium, R. Cunn., a species very nearly allied to the present, but larger, with distinctly crenate leaves, and having the capsules hoary with a white down. In habit and foliage this plant resembles the Anagallis tenella, L., and as well as many of the New Zealand species, it has a peculiarly creeping mode of growth, which none of those of the northern hemisphere possess.