Anisotome on Enderby Island
Last month, we visited the Snares, Enderby, Macquarie, and Campbell Islands as part of our trip to Antarctica’s Ross Sea. These islands are characterized by constant cold wet weather. The predators have all been exterminated allowing the native vegetation to rebound. Often called “The Galapagos of the Southern Ocean,” the Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand and Australia offer many unique plants that differ subtly between each island, similar to the differing shell shapes of the Giant Tortoises of the various Galapagos Islands.
Joseph Hooker, a friend of Charles Darwin and future director of the famous Kew Gardens in London, noticed this variability when he published his findings from his voyage as Ship’s Doctor under Captain James Ross to Antarctica. Hooker was struck by the richness of the flora. He wrote in his first volume of Flora Antarctica, “The most extraordinary of the megaherbs is the Pleurophyllum meadow, a community dominated by the large-leafed herbaceous composite, producing a floral display second to none outside the tropics.”
Of course, such overwhelming floral displays occur in the early spring (December) when we were not there, but we did photograph some late bloomers.
Joseph Hooker, a friend of Charles Darwin and future director of the famous Kew Gardens in London, noticed this variability when he published his findings from his voyage as Ship’s Doctor under Captain James Ross to Antarctica. Hooker was struck by the richness of the flora. He wrote in his first volume of Flora Antarctica, “The most extraordinary of the megaherbs is the Pleurophyllum meadow, a community dominated by the large-leafed herbaceous composite, producing a floral display second to none outside the tropics.”
Of course, such overwhelming floral displays occur in the early spring (December) when we were not there, but we did photograph some late bloomers.
Pleurophyllum
The Pleurophyllum is on New Zealand's $5 bank note along with a Yellow-Eyed Penguin
Stilbocarpa on Macquarie Island was used as a basic food and scurvy treatment for sailors and settlers in the 19th century