OCTOBER 107 



fruit enters on the second stage, and it is in this stage 

 that I consider it most beautiful. The scarlet covering 

 gradually disappears, and in its place is a sort of a 

 cage of exquisite texture, from the top of the inside of 

 which there drops a scarlet fruit of the size and colour 

 of a cherry. The whole outside covering has become 

 skeletonised and white, and how this is done naturally 

 is a puzzle which I have never seen satisfactorily 

 explained. We can easily skeletonise leaves and fruits 

 artificially, but in the alkekengi this is done slowly, and 

 apparently by the action of the atmosphere on the 

 thin, pulpy portion of the fruit. Many leaves are 

 skeletonised in the same way after falling from the 

 trees, especially poplar leaves and the butcher-brooms, 

 but I can only call to mind two other plants in which 

 this skeletonising seems to be a regular part of the life 

 of the plant. The little fiubus austmlis is the most 

 southern bramble known, coming from New Zealand, 

 and also, I believe, from the Falkland Islands; and 

 one of its varieties has only skeleton leaves i.e. it has 

 only the midribs of the leaves, but these are set with 

 small white thorns, which give the whole plant almost 

 a jewelled appearance. It is easily grown, and is fairly 

 hardy. But by far the most beautiful of these natur- 

 ally skeletonised plants is the lace leaf of Madagascar 

 (Ouviranda fenestralis), the leaves of which (to quote the 



