22 Transaction*. 



In the case of Rubus cissoides A. Cunn. var. pauperatus T. Kirk there 

 is no question of distinct races, although there are certainly two epharmonic 

 growth-forms. The one is a high-climbing liane growing in forests. It is 

 provided more or less abundantly with leaves, and produces plenty of 

 flowers and fruit. But in the open, on hillsides fully exposed to wind and 

 sun. it forms rounded bushes of interlacing twigs, has its leaves reduced 

 to midribs, and never produces flowers. It is, in fact, a xerophytic form, 

 governed by the non-forest conditions, and its presence depends upon 

 seeds being brought from the forest-plant by birds. Seedlings raised by 

 me from the forest-plant were leafy in an early seedling stage* ; this was 

 followed by the epharmonic leafless form, which, although hereditary, 

 can only persist so long as xerophytic conditions are maintained. Plants 

 growing in the shelter of a cliff may have a few leafy shoots which can bear 

 flowers and fruit. Rubus subpauperatus Cockayne, closely related both as a 

 species and as a growth-form, has also a forest form and a xerophytic form, 

 but in this case both produce flowers. The adult flowering forms of the 

 root-climbing banes Metrosideros scandens Sol. and M. florida Sm. may 

 become shrubs in the open, an analogous case to that of the artificially 

 raised tree-ivy of gardens. It is highly probable that other climbing 

 species of the genus behave in a»similar manner. 



The genus Clematis is represented by eight species^ in New Zealand. 

 All are more or less variable, and some of the species appear to " run into " 

 one another. Six may be considered mesophytes ; they are forest-plants, 

 or some climb amongst shrubs. These species are abundantly furnished 

 with leaves. But the var. rutaefolia Hook. f. of C. Colensoi Hook. f. grows 

 under more xerophytic conditions, and, in accordance with these, it is 

 smaller than the type, the leaves are more cut and present less transpiring 

 surface ; perhaps it is a fixed form. C. marata is subxerophytic ; it grows 

 in the open, frequently climbing into the branches of the xerophytic Dis- 

 caria toumatou ; its stems are slender, brownish-green, pubescent, and 

 interlaced, and its leaves much reduced. Finally. C. afoliata Buchanan 

 is a true xerophyte ; it is virtually leafless ; the stems are green and func- 

 tion as leaves ; they are rush-like, grooved, have the stomata in the 

 grooves, and are generally closely intertwined — i.e., the growth-form is 

 identical with that of the above Rubus, and approximates to the divari- 

 cating form. The seedling has plenty of leaves, and when the adult 

 grows in the forest this ' juvenile state may persist and even flower. It 

 must be remembered that this range of forms of Clematis, which vary 

 from forest mesophytes to an almost divaricating leafless shrub form, are 

 all presumably descended from one ancestor, and that even now many 

 are connected by intermediates, while one species is epharmonically meso- 

 phytic or xerophytic, according to its station. 



(d.) The Prostrate Form. 



There are various modifications of the prostrate form, which depend 

 chiefly upon closeness of branching and rooting-capacity. Here there are 

 only mentioned those with more or less straggling stems, which may or 

 may not bear adventitious roots. On certain subalpine moors a number 



* See also figs. 229, 230, Goebel, 1905, pp. 353, 354. 



-j- C. quadribracteolata Col. is omitted, as it seems to me merely a variant of G. marata 

 J. B. Armstrong. Nor do I know anything regarding the vars. depauperata Hook. f. 

 and trilobata Kirk of C. parviflora A. Cunn. 



