258 Transactions. — Botany. 



stem by the drifting sand aided by the increasing weight of 

 the fruit, or it may be an adaptation for sowing the seed, 

 thus hindering it from being blown inland into positions 

 where the seedlings would have little chance of maintaining 

 themselves amongst a more luxuriant vegetation. Whether 

 such bending of the stem is hereditary can only be ascertained 

 by experimental culture. 



The sandy shore plant-formation is distinctly a modified 

 one, though to the casual observer there is nothing to notify 

 that fact. In its primitive state it might well have received 

 the name of " Myosotidium formation." Just* above high- 

 water mark, where the great masses of kelp accumulate, 

 right up to the junction of shore and dune, on to the 

 dunes themselves, and into the open part of the Myrsine- 

 Olearia " scrub," formerly extended great clumps and patches 

 of this truly magnificent plant. Not only on the sandy 

 shore was it found, but it occupied low peaty ground near 

 the sea, rocky shores, and rocky ledges of cliffs covered 

 with sand, where, with the immense sow-thistle, it must 

 have struggled for sovereignty. At the present time, as ex- 

 plained further on, it is hardly to be found wild in the 

 island. Myosotidium nobile has a stout rhizome creeping 

 either just below the surface of the ground or often with its 

 greater part above the surface, in the manner of the New 

 Zealand Ranunculus lyallii or the Californian Saxifraga 

 peltata. Such a rhizome in a wild plant which I examined 

 measured 5-2 cm. in diameter. The leaves in shape and form 

 are not unlike those of the garden rhubarb, and consist of a 

 comparatively thin lauiina held in position by au extremely 

 strong framework of midrib and veins beneath, and the course 

 of which is defined by channels on the upper surface. The 

 leaves are nearly always bent in the form of a funnel, which 

 must be very advantageous for catching the water of the light 

 showers and conducting it to the channelled petiole, flowing 

 down which it reaches the roots. Petioles, midribs, and 

 veins are very fleshy and juicy. Certain leaves which I 

 measured were 25 cm. by 29 - 5 cm. ; 27 cm. by 22 cm., with 

 petiole 12 cm.; 32 cm. by 38 cm., with petiole 44 cm. The 

 large leaves, after being cast off, very soon become dry, and 

 in course of time a very considerable depth of humus results. 

 The peduncles are stout, and raise the flowers above the foli- 

 age. In one case a peduncle measured was 60 cm. tall and 

 18 mm. in diameter, bearing a close head of racemes 12 cm. 

 in diameter. The central half of the corolla is bright blue, 

 changing afterwards to purple, and the outer half is white. 

 Mrs. Chudleigh, of Wharekaun, discovered a form with white 



* According to Mr. F. A. D. Cox. 



