i^f)obobentiron ^ocietp ^otes; 
this species before them as a typical illustration of the characters by which the 
Falconeri Series is distinguished. These are:— 
Vegetative Characters. Shrubs or trees with stems and branches from 
which the bark flakes off leaving a pinkish tinted or cinnamon-coloured, often 
somewhat glaucous surface. The young branches stout, when young tomentose, 
the tomentum white to rich brown. The leaves thick and large ; oval, oblong- 
oval, or oboval, or oblanceolate, rounded at top ; blunt, rounded, cordate or 
tapered at the base ; the margin often recurved. Rough wrinkled more or less 
reticulate on the dark or paler green upper convex surface, when expanding 
coated there with a tomentum which usually falls off leaving no trace, or persists 
as a withered coating. Clothed on the concave under surface which is often 
alveolate with tomentum which varies from dark brown to whitish-grey and is 
composed of two strata. An upper stratum of cup-shaped stalked hairs, the 
stalks of many cells—their form varying from broad open bowls through bell¬ 
shaped to funnel-shaped chalice or vase t3q5es, broad or narrow at the mouth 
which may be merely slightly wavy or be prolonged into a short fringe or have 
long streamer-hke hair-branches passing out from it. According to the shape of 
the cup the cells composing its wall differ. Isodiametric in the bowls and bell¬ 
shaped cups they are elongated vertically in the narrower funnel-forms. And 
then in some of the larger funnels or chalices additional hair-branches may 
spring from the stalk and from the wall of the cup as well as from the margin of 
the mouth. The construction of these cup-hairs accounts for the differences 
observable on the under-surface of the leaves. When they are open bowls 
without or with very slight marginal fringe, and these are characteristic 
of the grey-coloured indumentum, the surface seems to have a number of isolated 
pits over it, and when the cells of the cup-walls dry and wninkle they scintillate 
prismatic colours ; where there are cups with extended marginal branches these 
by their interlacing give the woolly look so characteristic of many species, and 
this is common in the brown and cinnamon-coloured indumentum. As the leaf 
oldens one of two fates befalls these cup-hairs. They may persist unchanged 
save in darkening of colour, and the leaf-surface to the end retains its earlier 
character. This in particular where the indumentum is woolly. Or the cup- 
hairs may fall off sometimes over the whole surface save at the sides of the 
midrib and primary veins—this very marked where the indumentum is grey—and 
as this process of depilation proceeds the separate individual hairs, somewhat 
shrunken it is true, may be easily recognised, their isolation in the younger 
stages of the leaf is in the woolly leaves not always easily descried. W'hen the 
hairs of the upper stratum tall off the under stratum comes into view always as 
a smooth gre 3 dsh or white pellicle. It is never detersile and consists of rosette- 
hairs on short stalks, the unicellular branches always short and varying in 
number and taking on a vesicular character as they olden when the branches of 
adjacent hairs become agglutinated and thus create a close surface-skin over 
the leaf. This understratum is present also on the leaves from which the cup- 
hairs do not fall, and can be readily made visible by scraping off the upper 
stratum. I dwell on these characters of indumentum because the cup-hair is 
diagnostic of the Falconeri Series. I know of it in no other series. It gives an 
easily ascertained character by which to separate members of the Falconeri 
205 
