294 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
and more interesting than manicata \ 
and thrives better in dry soils. But 
mature masses of G. ma?iicata are far 
more imposing, and in a moist cUmate 
with a long season of growth, the ulti- j 
mate comparison is all in its favour. It 
is also somewhat hardier, thriving as [ 
far north as Aberdeen with only slight | 
protection. A long season is a great 
gain to the plants, which need time to j 
mature their crowns before the winter 
begins, and as they grow best in low j 
damp spots, this is not easy in places ex- | 
posed to early and late frosts. Upon the [ 
Continent, where the winter is often too j 
severe for them to stand in the open, 
they are sometimes grown in tubs and j 
brought under glass, where they keep 
their leaves all winter ; but with us they 
die away in the autumn, though the 
stout conical flower stems often con- 
tinue far into the winter. The name 
Gunnera is in honour of J. E. Gunner, 
a Scandinavian cleric and botanist of 
the eighteenth century. 
Gunnera arenaria. — A little plant from the 
sandy coasts of New Zealand, growing in low 
tufts of fleshy leaves about an inch long, with 
toothed edges. The flowers are inconspicuous 
and give place to little spikesof crimson berries. 
G. brephogea. — A plant known only as a 
chance seedling, brought from Columbia on | 
the roots of an imported Orchid. It is distinct 
and handsome, with broad, rough leaves upon 
long down-covered stems, springing from a 
dense crown of red scales. The stems and the 
unfolding leaves are at first violet, changing 
to reddish-brown ; the leaf-surface is much 
veined and wrinkled, boldly lobed and irregu- 
larly toothed upon the edges, and bordered 
above by a narrow line of blackish-purple. 
For awhile in the famous collection of M. 
Linden at Brussels, of late the plant has not 
been heard of. 
G. chilensis. — A plant spread over the whole 
of S. America, from Patagonia and Chili, 
where it grows in the warmer valleys and 
beside river-estuaries to the seashore and 
throughout the Andes at an increasing height 
until, in the Cordilleras of Columbia and 
Ecuador, it is found at elevations of 6,000 to 
10,000 feet, forming dense undergrowth in 
groves of the beautiful Brazilian Wax Palm 
[Ceroxylonandicold) . Though of compact habit 
the tufts spread upon all sides from side-shoots, 
and by self-sown seedlings in favourable spots. 
Full-sized leaves are upwards of 6 feet across, 
carried upon stout reddish stems of about the 
same length, which are very tough and full 
of acid juices. The tiny reddish flowers appear 
in a dense head or spike divided into many 
spikelets, and followed by orange-red fruits set 
thickly together. These flower-spikes are 
sometimes 3 to 4 feet long and as much round, 
while heads weighing 30 lbs. and 5 to 6 feet 
round have been recorded. 
The plant is hardy over the greater part of 
Britain, if planted in free soils with a cover- 
ing in winter. It is tender at Paris, but grows 
luxuriantly on the coasts of Brittany and 
Finistere, and is becoming naturalised in 
sheltered places. In a hard season the crowns 
are sometimes injured, but the plant is seldom 
killed outright. Masses 15 or more feet in 
diameter and containing scores of leaves are 
now not uncommon. The Chilian name is 
Panke, and the natives eat the stalks as we do 
Rhubarb, and use the roots for tanning leather 
and for the extraction of a black dye. Syns. 
G. sea bra ^ G. tinetoria^ and Panke acauUs. Two 
or three namedformsarenow grown in gardens, 
major being a good one sent out by Mr, Smith 
of Newry and recommended by those who have 
grown it, for its vigour and beauty ; longiscapa 
is also of very robust growth, and carries long 
tapering flower-spikes unlike the usual club- 
shape. There are also forms distinct in leaf ; 
one has the leaves not fully spread but more 
or less rigidly cupped, the veins and footstalks 
bright red, and the leaf-surface bronze-green; 
another has flat spreading leaves in which the 
ribs and veins are pale, and the leaf a purer 
green. Intermediate forms connect the two. 
G. dentata. — This grows as a dense mass of 
creeping stems, and rounded leaves which are 
deeply toothed around the edges. It is found in 
