THE NATURAL SHRUBBERIES. 51 



altogether distinct from the adult form, such a juvenile form fre- 

 quently persisting for a considerable period of time. Many of the 

 forest-trees have the same curious life-history ; but the whole 

 question is briefly dealt with towards the end of this chapter. 



There are distinctly two kinds of natural shrubberies in New Zea- 

 land viz., those covering extensive areas with a monotonous, uni- 

 form garb, and those occurring mainly in belts composed of many 

 different species of shrubs. The former may be designated " heaths," 

 the latter " scrubs." 



All over New Zealand the heaths owe their physiognomy to the 

 dominance of the manuka (Leptospermum scoparium), a plant belong- 

 ing to the myrtle family, with slender stiff stems, small leaves, and 

 numerous white flowers. These heaths may consist almost entirely 

 of manuka, or other shrubs may be mixed through it. In whatever 

 part of New Zealand it may occur, manuka heath is distinctly a sign 

 of poor land. This shrub is of most catholic tastes. Dry ground or 

 wet. it is all one. It may be found in swamps, knee-deep in water, 

 in sour sphagnum bogs, on wind-swept sandhills, on the faces of dry 

 cliffs, and even on ground impregnated with " chemicals " near boiling 

 springs and mud-volcanoes. Besides the above species, there is also 

 the tree-manuka, L. ericoides. and a species of very limited distribu- 

 tion, L. Sinclairii. 



THE SOUTHERN AND THE NORTHERN HEATHS. 



In the South Island the manuka heath, so far as the shrubs go, 

 frequently consists of pure Leptospermum scoparium. Sometimes other 

 shrubs occur in varying quantities, of which Discaria toumatou (the 

 wild-irishman, tumatakuru) and Cassinia fulvida are frequent, while 

 C. Vauvilliersii is not uncommon. The ground-plants vary according 

 to the altitude, soil, and climate. On the Bluff Hill the heath is 

 much richer in species ; and specially noteworthy are the large bushes 

 of the mingimingi (Styphelia acerosa], some with abundance of white , 

 and others with pink drupes. The bracken fern (Pt&ridium esculentum) 

 is a common constituent of heaths, and is frequently the most im- 

 portant plant. 



Where the ground is very wet, as on the pakihis of western 

 Nelson, the heath approximates to bog, and would be so reckoned 

 but for the small amount of peat on the surface. The plant- 

 covering consists of various rush-like sedges (Cladium glomeratum, 



