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THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 107 
sprung up on the spot where the Lady Ermentrude waited in 
_vain till she died, for the return of her husband, Sir Hildebrand, 
-v<ho had been slain in combat. 
This legend is very sweetly commemorated by one of our 
English poets:— 
‘The summer comes, the summer glows, 
The autumn wanes, the autumn goes; 
The plantain by the wayside blows, 
Watcher of the roadway.” ' 
Other plants besides the plantain enjoy a wide repu- 
tation for healing wounds and sores. Scores of them are 
mentioned in all the old herbals, but in my own experi- 
ence I have found but few of these in acttial use at the 
present day. A few may be mentioned. In Europe the 
leaves of the common dock (Rumex crispus) are rubbed 
on as an antidote to the sting of the nettle, 
while in Australia those of the Cunjevoi (Calocasia 
macrorrhiza) are used for a _ similar purpose in 
the case ofthe stinging tree. I have known the 
leaves of both the Cunjevoi and the above introduced 
dock to be used in Australia for the same purpose as 
those of the plantain as described above by Miss Man- 
ning. Since the above was written I have received addi- 
tional evidence of the popularity of P. major as a healing 
plant. A neighbour of mine at Pennant Hills procured 
plants which are now growing in his garden, for the 
purpose of providing a supply of the leaves-for his wife, 
“who has told. me she has found them highly beneficial 
when gently heated and applied to obstinate sores. 
THE STOMATA OF THE LEAFLESS PLANTS OF 
THE INTERIOR. 
By Archdeacon F. E. Haviland. 
The species I propose to treat of are well defined 
‘leafless plants growing over the western plains of New 
South Wales. They afford wonderful evidence as to 
how nature adapts herself to altered conditions. A 
question which in a general way suggests itself is whether, 
such plants are destined to become clothed with foliage, or 
whether they had been so clothed in their ancestral state. 
