136 VEGETATION OF LORD HOWE ISLAND, 



Twigs more or less angular, the petiole slightly twisted and 

 about half an inch long, leaves alternate, broadly ovate or nearly 

 orbicular, coriaceous, shiny on the upper surface, entire, the 

 venation reticulate-pinnate, usually with 5 or 6 primary veins on 

 each side of the midrib. The largest leaves seen are 4^ inches 

 long by 3^ broad, the average perhaps 4 inches by 3. Stipules 

 linear, half the length of the petioles. 



Fruit deep purple or nearly black, nearly egg-shaped or perhaps 

 approaching an ellipse (half as long as broad) in longitudinal 

 section, and sometimes with a blunt point at the apex. 8ize — 

 say, 2^ inches long by 1^ broad by 1 inch thick. 



Removal of the thin husk displays the embryo with two fleshy 

 plano-convex cotyledons filling the seed; the embryo is clothed 

 with short brown hairs. The radicle is inferior. 



Bearing in mind Hemsley's note on the subject (op. cit. p. 281), 

 I made careful search for Cordyline, Ranunculus, Epilohimn and 

 Veronica, but found none. 



MONOCOTYLEDONS. 



IRIDEiE. 



MoR^A RoBiNSONiANA, F.V.2L — ^The "Wedding Lily." This 

 grows in basaltic soil right on the edge of the rocky shore, where 

 it is plentifully bathed with sea-spray. There I noticed patches 

 forty or fifty feet across, and with the leaves at least seven feet 

 high. I observed smaller patches well up in the mountain, say a 

 thousand feet up. It was fruiting at the time of my visit, and I 

 was informed that the flowers of the mountain form are pure 

 white, while those near the coast are tinged with purple. 



JUNCACE.ff;. 



JijNCUS SP., probably the J. maritimus. Lam., of Hemsley's 

 list. —Grows up to 10 and 11 feet high in the swamps on Robins' 

 land. Both he and King agree that it is an introduced plant, 

 and that it spread so rapidly and grew so coarsely (so stock would 



