300 DIAPENSIACEAE. 
DIAPENSIA. 
(Family Diapensiaceae). 
Dwarf matted high-northern 
shrub: evergreen. Stems _§ slen- 
der, with shredding bark finally, 
but long covered by persistent 
leaf-remnants. Buds minute, 
naked, concealed by the bases of 
the leaves. lLeaf-scars absent: 
stipule-scars or stipules lacking. 
Leaves alternate, spatulate, dense- 
ly overlapping, somewhat recurv- 
ing and revolute. 
Kerner von Marilaun, one of 
the most popular exponents of 
adaptive teleology, mentions Dia- 
pensia in his charming Natural 
History of Plants as an illustra- 
tion of Arctic plants character- 
ized by the absence of pubescence 
restricting transpiration, in con- 
trast with woolly plants of more 
southern and drier regions. 
Glabrous, but the leaves minutely papillate. D. lapponica. 
