The Vegetable Sheep of Neiv Zealand. 133 



others, R. cicimia is certainly the most peculiar, forming large 

 masses like cushions, often two feet high and three feet in 

 diameter, and this species is known to the natives as the vege- 

 table sheep. A fine tuft of this plant is in the Museum, 

 Kew. The plants indeed, on the whole, have more the 

 appearance of mosses than exogens, the tomentum of the 

 leaves of many of the species being developed to such an 

 extent as to completely envelope them, and almost to conceal 

 the star-like flower-heads, which are seated at the apex of each 

 short twig. 



R. grandiflora, as its name indicates, is a very beautiful 

 little plant when in flower; the involucral scales, which are 

 white, might readily be mistaken for the ray florets ; but these, 

 like the disk florets, are tubular. The pappus hairs, seen 

 under a microscope, are rough, the edges being apparently 

 clothed with small prolongations, but the thickness and 

 rigidity of these vary much in the different species. 



Nearly allied to Raoidia is the genus Haastia, named b} r 

 Dr. Hooker in honour of Dr. Julius Haast. The plants have a 

 very similar habit to Raoidia, forming balls or cushions on the 

 lofty mountains. These species are mentioned as growing in 

 New Zealand, but Haastia j)idmnaris, Hf., is the most re- 

 markable ; indeed, Dr. Hooker says that it is one of the most 

 remarkable plants in the islands. Masses occur quite three 

 feet in diameter, covered with fulvous wool. The leaves are 

 crowded, broad, but completely hidden in the wool. This is a 

 very close-growing plant; indeed, the patches of it are too 

 dense even to admit of the finger being thrust between the 

 branches. It has been found on mountains at an elevation of 

 58U0 feet. The tufts represented in the plate are those of young 

 plants. 



Though singular and interesting to the botanist, these 

 plants are of no value economically, but, on the contrary, as we 

 have shown, certain species of them are a plague to the shep- 

 herds, inasmuch as they give them much trouble and annoy- 

 ance to discern between an animal sheep and a vegetable sheep. 



Leaves and Flowers of the Vegetable Sheet. 



BY HENRY J. SLACK, E.G.S., HON. SEC. E.M.S. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Jackson, I have been able to exa- 

 mine the leaves and flowers of the "vegetable sheep" (Raoidia 

 eximia) as they exist in the Kew specimen. When I saw that 

 specimen in the summer of last year^I was struck by an appear- 



