578 
and markings, and their relation to the leaves, seem to deserve 
special notice. The sharp-pointed triangular hard and. spirally 
arranged leaves are remarkably persistent. None of the plants in 
the garden have ever shed their leaves. They become sometimes of 
a brown colour; but even then they continue to adhere to the stem, 
and appear as unsightly appendages. In one of the plants cut 
down the leaves show a splitting at the base, apparently from dis- 
tension in the parts underneath, similar to what takes place in the 
petioles of many palms before they are detached. It is possible that, 
in the Araucaria, the splitting of the basis of the leaves may some- 
times be the precursor of their fall. From the lower part of the 
leaves prolongations extend along the surface of the bark, and give 
rise to peculiar markings, which are well seen when the leaves are 
cut off close to their union with the stem (fig. 1). The base of the 
Pig. 1. 
leaf remaining in the bark has the form of a narrow elongated 
ellipse, surrounded by cortical foliar prolongations. The markings 
on the bark, viewed externally, have a somewhat oblique quadri- 
lateral form. The leaves, when examined by the microscope, show 
stomata on both surfaces, running in lines, not unlike the appearance 
presented by stomata in Equiseta. 
On removing the epiphloeum or outer bark, and examining its 
inner surface, we remark a difference in the appearance presented 
at the lower and upper part of the stem. In the lower portions 
the markings have an irregular elliptical form, with a deep depres- 
