324 VAUGHAN MacCAUGHEY 



aceous. The dead leaves are tough and leathery and are 

 generally rotten at the base, where the moisture collects. 



Petiole: The petiole is unarmed; 2 to 4 feet long; concave- 

 convex, with sharp edges. The petioles of young plants are 

 much longer and more slender than those of mature plants, and 

 have httle or no matting at the base. On old leaves the fibrous 

 matting (vagina) often extends along the margins of the petiole 

 for one-quarter to one-half the length of the latter. The petiole 

 often has a narrow yellow median stripe along the under side. 

 The petiole terminates on the upper face of the blade with a 

 short, strong, semi-circular, pointed ligule, which is auricled at 

 each end. On the under side of the leaf the petiole is prolonged 

 into a suddenly contracting arrow-shaped rhachis about 6 inches 

 long. P. periculorum Wndl. of the Paumotu Islands is char- 

 acterized by dark golden-browTi petioles. 



Blade: The leaf-blane is fan-shaped and palmatisect; 3 to 4 

 feet long and somewhat less in width. The midrib is some- 

 times quite yellow. The segments number 20, 40 to 60, and are 

 about 1 foot long. Each segment is again slit at the apex into 2 

 linear-acute lobes. In some forms the lobes are truncate. A 

 fibrous thread about 6 inches long projects from each sinus; in 

 some forms it is- short or entirely absent. The apical portions 

 of the leaf segments are stiff and outstanding, not drooping. 

 All segments are connate to about the middle. In some forms 

 the blade is covered underneath, particularly near the base, 

 with a pale-brown dense matted wool. There is great variability 

 as to the extent and density of this wool, and it cannot be relied 

 upon as a systematic character. In many forms the blade 

 underneath is glaucous and glabrous, not woolly, but in the 

 younger state covered with thin, appressed, and soon deciduous 

 scalelets. 



The new leaves are clean and unmutilated; the older foilage is 

 often marked by the attacks of insects and fungi, and is wind- 

 beaten. The leaves of the seedling loulu are not pahnatisect, 

 but are narrow lanceolate, attentuate or acuminate at both ends. 

 They are squamose underneath, with scattered silvery pubes- 

 cence. They are strongly plicate, but the segments are not 



