The Vegetable Sheep of New Zealand. 



135 



elongated cells, surrounded in some cases by smaller rows of 

 bead-like cells. The hairs are of a glittering pearly whiteness, 

 very numerous, of wavy 

 outline, like the tenta- 

 cles of an anemone, and 

 pointed at the end. They 

 are not like the hairs of 

 the corolla, complex, 

 but of a simple tubular 

 structure, without joints. 

 The woodcut will convey 

 an idea of the appear- 

 ance which these hairy 

 leaves exhibit under the 

 microscope, and it will 

 be readily understood, 

 that as the leaves are 

 closely compacted round 

 the short stems, and as 

 each leaf is furnished 

 with a projecting mass 

 of hair, the whole plant 

 possesses the woolly ap- 

 pearance which Mr. 

 Jackson describes, and 

 from which, together 

 with its shape, the ap- 

 propriate name of "ve- 

 getable sheep " is derived. 



I should be much obliged if any one who reads these 

 pages in New Zealand would send to me, addressed to care of 

 Messrs. Groombridge, some ripe achenes or seeds of this curious 

 plant, and some flowers in a perfect state. 



LEAF. 



