THE VEGETATION OF THE COAST. 81 



with narrow leaves, most of which it casts oft' in the autumn. Its 

 relationship to the beautiful lacebarks and ribbonwoods is indeed 

 concealed in its habit, but revealed in the structure of its minute 

 flowers and fruit, as well as in its tough bark. 



On the drier ground of the salt meadow are a number of creeping, 

 turf-making plants, mostly with long roots and small thick leaves. 

 The chief of these are Samolus repens, a white-flowered plant of the 

 primrose family, but not a bit like a primrose ; SeUiera radicans, 

 which has a curious corolla, looking as if a portion had been removed, 

 also white ; Cotula dioica, with aromatic leaves and yellowish button- 

 like flower-heads ; and Atropis stricta, a small grass. In some places, 

 but by no means everywhere, growing in the pools or streams, is a 

 beautiful musk (Mimulus repens}. Its flowers are bright lilac in colour, 

 with an orange throat. Extremely abundant also in some localities 

 (e.g., on the northern shores of Cook Strait), and dotting the ground 

 everywhere, is the pretty relative of the last-mentioned, Mazus pumilio. 

 The curious Eryngium vesiculosum, a plant of the carrot family, which 

 can increase enormously by means of runners, and so become a weed, 

 is an occasional salt-meadow plant. 



Where the water cannot get away, and the ground is never dry, 

 and uncovered only at low tide, will be found a salt marsh. In the 

 wettest places colonies of the great bulrush (Scirpus lacustris] will be 

 present, but only where the water is not too salt. More salt-enduring 

 is the smaller Scirpus maritimus. Leptocarpus simplex will generally 

 be the dominant plant, and will cover many acres to the exclusion of 

 all else. A sedge, Car ex litorosa, is peculiar to the salt marsh. Many 

 of the plants mentioned above also occur, specially Juncus maritimus. 

 These salt-marsh plants are of considerable economic importance, as 

 they help to build up solid ground in estuaries, and also to maintain 

 the banks of tidal rivers. 



BOTANY OF THE SMALL COASTAL ISLANDS. 



The small islands near the coast are of extreme botanical interest, 

 and sometimes of great beauty. Some are quite in their virgin con- 

 dition, while others have been changed by man, especially where the 

 lighthouse-keepers lead their solitary lives. 



On Stephen Island, in Cook Strait, famous as the home of the 

 tuatara lizard, the last representative of a long-since-vanished race, 

 can be seen every stage of human progress from the "forest primeval' 



