170 Transactions. 



(b.) Growth-form. 



A prostrate creeping herb forming mats over the sand, with showy 

 convolvulus flowers. 



Rhizome long, creeping. 



Stems prostrate, trailing, of varying thickness, cord-like, much branching. 



Leaves many, on petioles 1-3 in. long, blade in breadth reaching 2 in., 

 broader than long, reniform, basal sinus broad and shallow ; leaves green, 

 fleshy. 



Corolla showy, pale lilac in colour. 



Seeds blackish-brown, numerous. 



(c.) Leaf-anatomy. 



Epidermis much the same on both surfaces, formed of large polygonal 

 cells ; stomata numerous, clefts in all directions, on a level with surface, 

 and placed within two cells similar to the guard-cells (these are the 

 " biceller " referred to by Warming, " Halofyt-Studier," p. 33, under Con- 

 volvulus Soldanella, and p. 21 under Ipomoea pes caprae). On epidermis of 

 both surfaces are glandular hairs, consisting of a ring of wedge-shaped cells. 

 These glandular hairs are the " kirtelhaar " described by Warming. In the 

 epidermal cells around them the cuticle is thicker than elsewhere, and the 

 surface is wrinkled. 



Chlorenchyma differentiated ; about four upper layers of the palisadic 

 type, rather loosely arranged. On the underside the cells are rounded and 

 more loosely arranged, with large intercellular spaces ; air-spaces beneath 

 stomata. 



Ramifying through the chlorenchyma are lacteal veins (the " mael- 

 kerorene " of Warming), usually near the vascular bundles. These ducts 

 are surrounded with a layer of cells tangentially stretched, and their con- 

 tents appear granular. 



Fibro-vascular bundles numerous. The mid- vein is surrounded by a ring 

 of five or six " maelkerorene," embedded in colourless parenchyma. Each 

 vascular bundle consists of a mass of xylem and of phloem, with paren- 

 chyma, surrounded by a parenchyma sheath. 



(d.) Conclusion. 



The characters of the leaf are in part xero phytic — e.g., cuticle, lacteal 

 veins, and water tissue near the veins ; but, on the whole, the leaf is meso- 

 phytic, with its unprotected stomata on both sides of the leaf, and the 

 structure of the chlorenchyma. It is therefore the habit of the plant rather 

 than its structure which fits it for its position. 



16. Coprosma acerosa. . . „ . . 



(a.) Habitat. 



Found fairly frequently, in rounded masses, on the active dunes at both 

 ends of New Brighton beach ; often in company with Cassinia fulvida. 



(b.) Growth-form. 



A spreading, ragged, low-growing, matted shrub, with woody inter- 

 lacing stems and clusters of small linear leaves. Forms wiry cushions or 

 mats about 2 ft. high and several feet in diameter. 



Stems flexible, and covered with brown bark ; curving in all directions; 

 brancheB at various angles, often at right angles. 



