88 MUEHLENBECKIAMYRICA 



& to I in. long ; stalk rough with minute warts, to % in. long. Flowers 

 greenish white, ^ in. long, produced in autumn in small terminal and 

 axillary spikes about f in. long ; the perianth with its five erect, oblong, 

 blunt-ended lobes persists to the fruiting stage, becoming enlarged and 

 glistening waxy white. 



Native of New Zealand, often found at considerable altitudes. It differs 

 from australis in its usually smaller leaves and in having its flowers nearly 

 always in short spikes. It makes a dense and interesting cover for old 

 tree-stumps and rubble-heaps ; and it is even worth while allowing it to 

 ramble over a common or unimportant shrub 6 to 10 ft. high, which it will 

 in time smother by an amazingly thick tangle of dark wiry stems. Hardy 

 in the south and west ; killed to ground-level by severe frost at Kew. 



MUTISIA DECURRENS, Cavanilles. COMPOSITE. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 5273.) 



A climbing evergreen shrub, growing 8 to 10 ft. high; stems slender, 

 smooth, but little branched. Leaves narrow-oblong, stalkless ; the blade 

 3 to 5 ins. long, J to i in. wide ; the base being continued down each 

 side of the stem as a pair of narrow wings, the apex terminating in a forked 

 tendril which curls round any available support, and thus holds up the 

 stem. Flower-heads 4 to 5 ins. across, solitary at the end of the shoot, 

 and borne on a smooth stalk 3 to 5 ins. long. Ray florets about fifteen, 

 e#ch \ in. wide, and of a brilliant orange or vermilion colour ; disk florets 

 yellow. The flower-head is supported at the base by a columnar mass 

 of overlapping thin scales tipped with greyish hairs, and has much the 

 aspect of a Gazania or single dahlia. 



Native of Chile; introduced for Messrs Veitch in 1859 by Richard 

 Pearse. Except in comparatively few places it has not proved a success 

 in this country, and is now uncommon. One of the greatest successes 

 with it has been obtained in Sir Thomas Acland's garden at Killerton, 

 near Exeter. A plant there is grown against a wall facing south-west, and 

 Mr J. Coutts, who planted it and cultivated it for several years, tells me 

 that it has borne over three hundred flower-heads during one summer. He 

 ascribes his success with it, first, to the position and climate ; second, to the 

 soil, which is not the ordinary red soil of Devon, but volcanic trap; and 

 lastly, to the practice of placing stones on the ground about the roots. The 

 Killerton plant produces suckers freely, and by them can be propagated ; 

 it also ripens seed from which many plants have been raised. This 

 Mutisia is capable of withstanding severe cold ; soon after it was intro- 

 duced it experienced- 2 6 of frost at Exeter without injury. 



MYRICA. GALE, BAYBERRY. MYRICACE^E: 



Deciduous and evergreen shrubs or small trees, with scented alternate 

 leaves and unisexual flowers, the sexes sometimes on the same plant, 

 sometimes separated. Flowers in catkins, and produced in the axils of 

 bracts. There are neither sepals nor petals, the male flower consisting 



