Other
Scientific paper
Jul 1890
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1890natur..42..222t&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 42, Issue 1079, pp. 222 (1890).
Other
Scientific paper
IN Mr. Wallace's recent work on ``Darwinism,'' reference is made to the absence of spiny and prickly plants in oceanic islands in disproof of Prof. Geddes's theory that spines are an indication of the ebbing vitality of a species. Mr. Hemsley's remarks on the subject are quoted, and an explanation of the occurrence of spines in our only species of Rubus and in Aciphylla is given. In regard to the former it is stated (p. 433, colonial edition):-``In New Zealand the prickly Rubus is a leafless trailing plant, and its prickles are probably a protection against the large snails of the country, several of which have shells from two to three and a half inches long.'' The explanation seems to me to be a very unsatisfactory one, and indeed to be quite incorrect. The snails referred to (Placostylis bovinus, Paryphanta Busbyi, and P. Hochstetteri) are very uncommon; I do not know that they occur at all in the South Island. The Rubus, on the other hand, is everywhere a most abundant and aggressive plant, springing up especially in bush clearings, whether made by fire or by the axe alone. It is also incorrect to speak of it as a leafless trailing plant. Sir Joseph Hooker, who is the first authority on the New Zealand flora, has united all the forms of Rubus found in these islands into one polymorphic species, and even the most inveterate species-makers have never yet successfully disputed his dictum. It must, however, be acknowledged that four if not five very distinct varieties are included under the common name of Rubus australis. Of these only the Variety cissoides of the ``Flora Novæ-Zealandiæ'' is leafless, its leaves being reduced to prickly midribs. All the other forms are leafy, some densely so, and these are by far the most abundant.
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