46 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



Seen from without, a kauri forest is equally remarkable. The spread- 

 ing heads of the kauris rise so high above the general forest-roof that 

 it looks as if one forest were superimposed upon another. Very fre- 

 quently there is found in the undergrowth a miniature tree-fern (Blech- 

 num Fraseri), which has a very slender trunk 1 in. or less in diameter 

 not thicker, indeed, than a stout walking-stick and rarely more than 

 3 ft. tall, and which spreads into large colonies by means of long 

 slender creeping stems. Dicksonia lanata, too, another small tree- 

 fern, but with a stout trunk, is frequently plentiful in some places, 

 and may then form much of the undergrowth. 



The kahikatea forest consists almost exclusively of Podocarpus 

 dacnjdioides - - multitudes of long, straight trunks, like masts of 

 ships, rising from the swampy ground. High up some of the stems 

 climb the New Zealand screw-pine, the kiekie (Freijcinetia Banksii), 

 which also everywhere forms a rigid entanglement along the forest- 

 floor. Dead trees bridge the ever-present pools of water, and certain 

 shrubs, of which in the north Coprosma tenuicaulis is one, form more 

 or less dense thickets. 



VARIATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE MIXED FOREST. 



The mixed forest varies according to latitude and altitude, but 

 a general groundwork of plants is always present. Many northern 

 forms are wanting in the south, and, conversely, the more important 

 southern species are less frequent in the north at a similar elevation. 

 Latitude 38 forms a fairly definite boundary for quite a number of 

 trees and shrubs, and latitude 42 a second boundary, though the 

 former, and to a greater extent the latter, is overstepped in several 

 instances. 



The pines (species of Podocarpus and Dacrydium), as they are 

 popularly called, but more correctly designated taxads, since they are 

 related to the yew (Taxus), are everywhere important members of the 

 society under discussion. Confined to the north are --the taraire 

 (Beilschmiedia tarairi], the mangaeo (Litsea calicaris), the makamaka 

 (AcJcama rosaefolia), the tawhero (Weinmannia sylvicola], the toatoa 

 (Phyllocladus glaucus), and, some other trees and shrubs. 



Amongst the trees not spreading much beyond latitude 42 are 

 some very common ones of the northern forests. Some of these are 

 the karaka (Corynocarpus laevigata], which reaches Banks Peninsula ; 

 the tawa (Beilschmiedia taica) ; the kohekohe, or New Zealand cedar 



