Ecological Botany.] SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 205 



criniferum, P. HooJceri, Crassida moschata, Scirpus aucklandicus, Gentiana cerina, 

 G. crinita, Plantago aucklandica, Geum aticklandicum, Cardamine uniflora, C. glacialis 

 var. subcarnosa, Coprosma ciliata, Coprosma foetidissima. 



Judging from the accounts of previous botanical visits, the full blooming of most 

 of the herbaceous plants is in December, though the magnificent Pleurophyllum 

 speciosum is at its best perhaps early in January. According to Chapman (Trans. 

 N.Z. Inst., vol. xxiii, p. 506), on the 5th January Celmisia vernicosa was in bloom 

 on the hills, but not at a low elevation ; Bulbinella and Stilbocarpa polaris were in 

 fruit. Metrosideros lucida during January will turn the forest into a blaze of 

 crimson. Olearia Lyallii and Senecio Stewartiae were in bud during the visit of the 

 expedition, and would be in full bloom by the middle of December, or even earlier. 



More or less of a floral display extends till March. During the beginning of 

 that month the French Expedition, judging from the plates in the "Voyage au Pole 

 sud," collected in blossom Stilbocarpa polaris, Aciphylla antipoda, Colobanthus 

 muscoides, Dracophyllum longifolium, Bulbinella Rossii, Pleurophyllum criniferum, 

 Metrosideros lucida, Cassinia Vauvilliersii, and Nothopanax simplex; but probably 

 some of these were virtually out of flower, and merely bore a late bloom or two. 



(J.) LEAF-ANATOMY. 



The minute structure of the leaves shows the plants to be partly mesophytes 

 and partly xerophytes, some plants, of course, showing structures to be referred to 

 both categories. The xerophytes are plants of special xerophytic stations, usually 

 such as rocks or bogs, or of special exposure, such as a forest-roof, or an erect habit 

 in wind-swept meadow. To be sure, there are plants which show little or no suit- 

 ability for their environment, judging by their anatomy. Thus, Myosotis albida, a 

 plant of spray-swept rocks, should, at any rate, have as xerophytic a structure as 

 the Plantago of similar stations, whereas it has a non-cuticularized, thin-walled 

 epidermis, 2-layered palisade, and abundant open pneumatic tissue, while the latter 

 has a thick-walled strongly cuticularized epidermis, 5-6-layered palisade, and small 

 pneumatic tissue of closely arranged cells. But it must be remembered the structure 

 of the Myosotis is somewhat counterbalanced by its hairy (not tomentose) covering. 



As Schenck has shown for Kerguelen Land that on account of the cloudy skies 

 palisade-parenchyma is often feebly developed (" Pflanzengeographie der subant- 

 arctischen Inseln," p. 56), so, too, does this hold for no few of the plants under 

 consideration, some, of course, being identical species for both regions. The 

 following are examples : Astelia subulata, A. linearis, Phyllachne clavigera, Scirpus 

 aucklandicus, Carex trifida, Poa foliosa, Luzula crinita, Cotula plumosa (virtually no 

 difference in form between the cells of the chlorenchyma, though near the peri- 

 phery they may be arranged a little more densely) ; Ranunculus aucklandicus, R. 

 subscaposus, Pratia arenaria (palisade of one row of cells only) ; Epilobium linnaeoides 

 (1-2-layered palisade) ; Senecio antipodus, Coprosma repens, Hdichrysum bellidioides 

 (2-layered palisade, the pneumatic in first named making up the bulk of the 

 leaf) ; Ranunculus pinguis, Coprosma cuneata (3-layered palisade, equalling one-half 

 pneumatic) ; Gentiana cerina (3-layered, equalling one-fifth pneumatic) ; Myo- 

 sotis capitata (3-layered, equalling one-third the pneumatic) ; Aciphylla latifolia 

 (3-4-layered, equalling one-half the pneumatic). 



