258 Transactions. — Botanij. 



gotten. A peaked rock ovex'head is 700 ft. above the sea ; the 

 summit rocks are 1,100 ft. by the aneroid. The whole of the 

 ground up to these and beyond them is Hterally packed with 

 beautiful fiow^ering herbaceous plants. Near the shore the 

 Ligiisticums , L. latifolium and L. anttjjodimi, grow in splendid 

 profusion, their stout rhizomes and huge rigid leaves stopping 

 the progress of pedestrians. Along the shore were masses of 

 golden lily (Anthericum rossii) in seed. Here, too, grew sweet- 

 scented Gotula lanata and its handsome congener G. liluviosa, 

 both of which are worth cultivating. Over the whole country 

 Pleuroj)hyllmn sjjeciostim sends up, among huge ribbed leaves 

 2 ft. long, its spikes of beautiful lilac or purple flowers. These 

 spikes are usually four or five, sometimes eight or ten, in 

 number. The regular imbricating of the large ribbed leaves, 

 so strong as to push aside the rank grasses, renders these 

 plants singularly beautiful. They form deep cups of crisp 

 foliage, which gives way with a crash as you set foot on 

 it." "The next species, Pleurophyllum crinifcrmn, was also 

 plentiful. Its leaves are even larger, and, although not so 

 handsome, make it a fine plant, especially as its tall white 

 flower-stalk, sometimes 3 ft. high, covered with button-like 

 brown rayless flower-heads 1 in. across, is a very striking ob- 

 ject." "Here, too, we met in immense quantities the most 

 beautiful of all the Celmisias, C. vernicosa, a little plant 

 with leaves here seldom more than 2 in. long, gleaming like 

 polished nephrite new from the lapidaries' hands, arranged in 

 the most perfect rosettes." 



In the middle of winter the Pleurophyllum meadow pre- 

 sents a very different aspect, owing perhaps not so much to the 

 absence of flowers as to the winter habit of some of the more 

 important plants. Thus, the huge leaves of Pleurophyllum 

 criniferum are altogether wanting, P. speciosum only forms 

 comparatively small rosettes — one's feet do not then " crash 

 through the horizontal leaves as though walking on thin 

 ice " (56, p. 220) — while Bulbinella is hardly visible at all, the 

 winter buds hidden by the brown bases of the old decayed 

 leaves just protruding above the surface of the ground. To be 

 sure, the great rounded leaves of Stilhocar2M polaris and the 

 large dark-green leathery pinnate leaves of Ligiisticum lati- 

 Jolmvi still form as dense masses of greenery as in summer, 

 but here the absence of the inflorescence — as large as the head 

 of a man, according to Hooker (46, p. 16) — must make a 

 striking difl'erencc between the winter and the summer aspect ; 

 but as these plants appear frequently to form an association 

 mixed with little other vegetation of a striking appearance 

 they exercise much influence on the winter physiognomy of the 

 meadow as a whole. Everywhere the ground is dotted with 

 the bright-green winter rosettes of Pleurophyllum speciosum 



