Cockayne. — Botanical Exciirsion to Southern Islands. 261 



as before stated, exhibits merely the tips of the buds, which 

 reach above the surface of the ground to a height of + 3-5 cm. 

 Such buds, from certain examples measured, are about 11 cm. 

 in length x 2-26 cm. in diameter. They are somewhat conical 

 in shape, and quite sharp at the apex, thus easily piercing the 

 soil. Above they are pale-green, but gradually toning (iown 

 to yellowish-green or very pale-yellow at the base. The leaves 

 of the bud are fleshy and imbricate closely, thus protecting 

 the interior of the bud, while the bud itself is protected by a 

 thick covering of the dead bases of the old leaves, consisting 

 mainly of the vascular bundles. The rhizome measures pro- 

 bably 2 cm. or so in thickness, and is concealed by the dense 

 masses of thick and fleshy yellow roots, which usually radiate 

 outwards and downwards from the base of the bud. 



Stilbocarpa polaris is a noble plant, somewhat after the 

 manner of the Chilian Gunnera chilensis. The large rhi- 

 zome, measuring + 8 cm. x + 7 'cm., creeps on the surface 

 of the ground. Usually about six fully developed leaves 

 are given oflF from an ascending portion of the stem. These 

 leaves are + 6 cm. broad at the sheathing base, which is 

 furnished with a very large stipule + 18 cm. long x 10 cm. 

 wide at the apex — its widest part. Such stipules in part 

 enclose the interior bud, against which they are pressed 

 tightly by their concave inner surface, and play a most im- 

 portant part in its protection. The petiole, + 54 cm. long, 

 is thick, but hollow. The leaf-blade is orbicular reniform. 

 It is + 19 cm. in length, measuring from sinus to apex, and 

 + 29 cm. broad. These leaf-blades are more or less in the 

 form of a funnel, through the lobes of the reniform base being 

 bent inwards, and so convey any water which falls on them 

 to the roots of the plant. The leaves on both surfaces and 

 the petioles are furnished with many pale hairs 10 mm. in 

 length, which seem to vary considerably in number in various 

 individuals. Drops of water frequently accumulate on these 

 hairs, but whether tliey can absorb such, as seems to me 

 likely, can only be ascertained by experiment. These hairs 

 remain unchanged in number in plants cultivated under con- 

 ditions quite different to those of their natural habitat, judg- 

 ing from a plant I have had in cultivation several years in the 

 neighbourhood of New Brighton, on a sandhill at the back of 

 a wall, sheltered from the north-west, and about Im. from a 

 small stream of water. The leaf-anatomy of Stilbocarpa is of 

 some interest. The epidermis on the under-surface of the 

 leaf is attached only to the veins, thus leading to numerous 

 spaces full of air between epidermis and spongy paren- 

 chyma. At first there seems to be an almost colourless 

 tissue of rounded cells between the epidermis and pali- 

 sade, but evi'iently these become ruptured and the above- 



