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DlAPENSIACEAE. 



DlAPENSIA. 



( 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. Leaf -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. 



