QUNNBRA 
295 
wet boggy places of the Northern Island, New 
Zealand, at elevations of 1,000 to 3,000 feet. 
G. magellanica. — A little creeping plant 
thriving in moist peaty soils and in shady 
places, and fully hardy in this country. It 
spreads by prostrate rhizomes which cover the 
ground with a carpet of rounded leaves to 
2 inches across, through which the little 
branched flower-spikes make their way during 
May and June. These should be followed by 
red berries, but the plant seldom fruits in this 
country. Though similar in character it is 
larger than thedwarf kinds from NewZealand, 
and is found in slightly varying forms from 
Chili southwards through Patagonia and the 
Falkland Islands. Syn. G. falklandica. 
CiUNNERA MaNICATA AT THE WATER 
G. manicata. — The giant of the genus and 
one of the most stately of hardy plants. Where 
it attains its finest development, as in Ireland 
and the south-west of England, masses of 
foliage 30 to 3 5 feet in diameter are sometimes 
produced by one crown, the largest leaves being 
upwards of 9 feet across, and as many as seventy- 
eight have been counted upon a single plant. 
The effect of such a mass, i 2 feet high when 
in full luxuriance, is difficult to convey in 
words, and though G. manicata — a scarce plant 
20 years ago — is now fairly common, it is 
only under the best conditions that it attains 
such a size. From G. chi/ensis it differs in 
many ways. The leaves are larger and broader 
at the base, of thinner texture and a richer 
green, more evenly rounded and flatly spread- 
ing ; the ribs and veins are light green or 
nearly white ; and the surface smooth instead 
of roughly scabrous. They are not only more 
erect and last longer in the autumn, but the 
stalks of 5 to 8 feet long (according to the 
vigour of the plant) are spiny throughout 
their length and are sheathed at the base — 
whence the name manicata^ "cuffed" or 
" sleeved." The central bud or crown, en- 
veloped in a mass of downy pinkish scales, is 
often as large round as a man's body and is far 
less apt to split into offsets than in chi/ensis. 
The flower-spikes are very stout, 3 to 5 feet 
high, and much less dense, the tiny greenish 
flowers being 
set upon slender 
tapering spike- 
lets which give 
the inflores- 
cence quite a 
different ap- 
pearance. The 
seed s ripen in 
thiscountrybut 
are slowtocome 
up, germinat- 
ing irregularly 
in the second 
year. Theplant 
needs shelter 
and grows best 
in light soil, 
well enriched. 
It comes from 
the cold and misty mountain regions in the 
south of Brazil, and as discovered by Libon 
presented a noble appearance, with leaves 10 
to I 2 feet across. 
G. monoica. — Another of the dwarf creep- 
ing kinds from New Zealand, covering moist 
cool ground with its rounded leaves, beneath 
which red and white berries lie hidden. 
G. perpensa. — This was brought from the 
Cape in 1688, and has lingered in a few 
collections, but being tender and of little 
j beauty has never attracted attention. The 
rounded leaves, like those of the Winter 
Heliotrope, are in tufts 18 inches high, with 
spikes of greenish flowers in August. B. 
