422 



BOTANICAL GAZETTE 



[NOVEMBER 



terranean stem has a remarkably tenacious hold on life. Mr. 

 Edward Meilland, who lives in the Bowenia region, told me that 

 a stem just beneath the beaten path under the house had not pro- 

 duced a leaf for 20 years, but when the old house was abandoned 



and the path no longer used, the stem, so 

 long dormant, produced a fine display of 



foliage. 



most 



species and the variety is in the stem, which 

 is subterranean in both. In the species the 

 stem is somewhat carrot-shaped, with one 

 or two, sometimes four or five, slender 

 branches at the top (fig. 3). These slender 

 branches bear all the leaves and cones. 



Fig. 3. — Bowenia specta- 

 bilis: a somewhat diagram- 

 matic sketch of the stem of 

 an ovulate plant; the por- , Fig. 4 —Bowenia serrulata: asome- 



tion shown is somewhat what diagrammatic sketch of the stem 



less than 1 m. in length; the of astaminateplant; the stem is about 



dotted line is the ground 23 cm. in diameter; the dotted line is 



line. the ground line. 



Sometimes they extend to the surface, but generally the bases of 

 the leaves and the lower third of the 'cone are covered by the soil. 

 Root tubercles are present but are generally 10-20 cm. below the 

 surface. 



