THE MALLOWS AND RIBBON-WOODS 259 



Such a daring hypothesis as this, shows how botanists 

 are beginning to believe in the extraordinary plasticity of 

 plant life. Whatever explanation of these strange changes of 

 form may ultimately be held, the problem suggested by the 



Fig. 81. Gaya L,yallii (i nat. size). 



wonderful transformations, which many New Zealand plants 

 undergo in their development, must surely give pause to any 

 belated believers in the immutability of species. They cannot 

 possibly have any theory to account for such unnecessary 



