72 



NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



most valuable plant when used with discretion. But the question of 

 dune-fixing is too complex for discussion here, and, so far as New 

 Zealand goes, the matter is still quite in its infancy. 



Where the dunes are more stable, other special ' sand-plants ' 

 are common. Of these, Coprosma acerosa (fig. 31), with wiry, reddish- 

 coloured, interlacing twigs, is found everywhere ; and so, too, is 

 Pimelia arenaria, a low-spreading shrub, with pretty silvery leaves 

 and white flowers. Certain species of Cassinia, which belongs to the 







f . 



'4. k 1 **"' 1 ' 



^M*-&t, '"* 



*>?>;*;&>& *..&& 



. -** 



FIG. 31. The Sand-coprosma (Coprosma acerosa) building a Temporary Dune 



Coast of Canterbury. 

 Lands Department.] [Photo, L. Cockayne. 



daisy family, are very frequent features of this society, but they are 

 different in various parts of the Dominion. In the Auckland region it 

 is Cassinia retorta ; Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, and the shores of Cook 

 Strait have the tauhinu or cottonwood (('. leptophylla) ', while 

 farther south the yellow-leaved C. fulrida is the sole representative 

 until the Bluff Hill or certain places on the east of Otago are 

 reached, when C. Vauvittiersii, a common subalpine shrub, puts in 

 an appearance. 



