76 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



flow of the tide, it would have little chance of germinating. Con- 

 sequently, the embryos in the seeds of the mangrove develop con- 

 siderably while still on the tree, emerging from the seed and producing 

 rudiments of roots ready for rapid growth. When such young plants 

 fall from the tree, the roots grow rapidly. They pass downwards and 

 outwards from near the tip of the stem below the seed-leaves, and 

 so anchor the plantlet firmly in the unstable ground. Nor is this all. 

 The seed-leaves are fleshy and full of nourishment, and on this the 

 young mangrove lives in part* until the time when, provided with 

 foliage, it is in a position to manufacture for itself the sugary foods 

 it requires from the atmosphere and the water. Surely none need 

 cast contumely on such a plant as this ! 



COASTAL SHRUBBERIES. 



The beautiful inlets of Stewart Island derive their charm in large 

 measure from the assemblage of trees and shrubs along the water's 

 edge, especially when the southern rata (Metrosideros lucida), its 

 boughs almost dipping into the water, has burst into flaming crimson. 

 In similar situations the inuka (Dracophyllum longifolium) and the 

 smaller New Zealand flax (Phormium Cookianum) are common. 



Where the coastal scrub of Stewart Island is densest, it has received 

 the name of " mutton-bird scrub." This consists largely of the puhe- 

 ritaiko, a very fine shrubby groundsel (Senecio rotundifolius) (fig. 33). 

 which makes an excellent garden plant even as far north as Auck- 

 land. The leaf is frequently 4 in. or more in diameter, and is covered 

 so closely with a mat of buff-coloured hairs on the under-surface that 

 it can be written upon. The leaf may thus be made to serve as a 

 post-card, which can be posted at the most southerly office in Aus- 

 tralasia that on the Isle of Ulva, in Paterson Inlet. 



In the West Coast Sounds this groundsel forms thickets, associated 

 with some other shrubs, of which the principal are the charming 

 Olearia operina, Veronica elliptica, and F. saUcifolia. A close relation 

 of 0. operina, the teteawaka (0. angustifolia\ (figs. 34 and 35), which 

 has flower-heads 2 in. or so in diameter, with violet centres, occurs 

 in Stewart Island. There are also a few plants at the base of the 

 Bluff Hill. These latter, unfortunately, are badly attacked by a 



The seed-leaves are green, and so they supply the growing plant with 

 additional food-material of their own manufacture. 



