3 H Groom . — Vegetative Anatomy of Pherosphaera Fitzgeratdi. 
lateral lobes that serve to connect them with the surrounding tissue. Thus 
there is no absolute distinction between the cells of this layer and of the 
inner palisade-like layer. 
The remainder of the central strand is composed of : 
(i) parenchyma ; 
(f) the single median ventral resin-duct, showing a double epithelium ; 
(3) phloem ; 
(4) xylem, with transfusion tissue. 
It was impossible to observe the minute details in the histology on the 
phloem in the dried herbarium material alone available. 
The transfusion-tissue (tt. in the illustration) in transverse section extends 
from the feeble xylem in the form of two wings, which ascend towards the 
upper face and sometimes curl inwards at the outer edges, which may almost 
meet in the middle line. The transfusion cells may extend to the outermost 
layer of the strand. In width of lumen they increase from within outwards ; 
while in length they vary from long narrow tubes to short cells whose length 
scarcely exceeds the breadth. 
Conclusions. 
Pherosphaera Fitzgeratdi recalls familiar European shrubs and trees 
growing in peat-bogs, at alpine altitudes, or in arctic regions, both as 
regards the construction of its leaves, including the xerophytic epidermis 
and hypoderma associated with very loose mesophyll, and as regards 
the narrowness of the annual rings. While the dominance of thick-walled 
tracheides in the stem is paralleled by similar tendencies in species of Pinus , 
Larix , and Picea when grown at considerable altitudes in Europe, yet the 
structure of the leaves is not widely different in design from that displayed 
by various species of Pinus and Juniper us of more low-lying sites. 
The cause of these anatomical features of Pherosphaera Fitzgeratdi , 
which can grow in a soaking habitat, demands local investigation. Al- 
though the Tasmanian species is described as an alpine shrub, such does 
not appear to be the case with this species. For Dr. Stapf points out that 
the highest parts of the Blue Mountains, where the plant grows, are clad 
with Eucalypti, and that the Katoomba plateau (where the. specimen 
described in Hooker’s ‘ leones Plantarum ’ was obtained) has a general 
elevation of 3,000 to 3,500 ft. 
