196 



SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



[EcdJoijicdl Biiliiiii/. 



Evergreen Herbs. — This category is not very clearly defined, as it is rather hard 

 to draw the line as to a woody stem. In point of fact, such plants as Celmisia 

 vernicosa, C. campbeUensis, Helichnjsum bellidioides. and CnproKma repens should 

 rather be considered suffruticose. 



(ii.) Special Life-forms. 

 * The Rosette Form. 

 Short internodes, and consequent crowding of leaves at the ends of the stems, 

 leads to this common form. The rosettes may be more or less open, and with few 

 leaves, as in PleurophijUum Hookeri, P. speciosuni, and Plantago aucMandica ; or be 

 close and of the typical form, as in^Celmisia vernicosd (round rosette), Phintaqo 

 species of coastal rocks (flat rosette).*' 



Fig. 5. — Clom; \'ii.« m Ci miion nv rinjUiii-lnie ehi 



SHOWIXc; DhXSE HaIUT of GllOWTll 



** The Cushion Form. 



Here there is finally abundant branching into very sliort branches, the 



ultimate branchlets becoming pressed so closely together that cusliions are formed, 



leafy only just on the outside, and the whole structure of such density that no 



trace of branching is outwardly visible. The solidity of the subantarctic cushions 



* Quito distinct from the so-called P. Broumii of the mninlrind of Now Zealand. 



