THE VEGETATION OF THE COAST. 73 



Where the force of the wind is less felt, a heath may make its ap- 

 pearance, and the manuka, (Leptospermum scoparium), the cabbage- 

 tree (Cord yline australis), the toetoe (Arundo conspicua}, the flax 

 (Phormium tenax), and, from the shores of Cook Strait southwards, 

 the wild-irishman (Disearia toumatou) occur in force (fig. 32). 



Hollows in the dune region are very frequent, the sand being 

 blown away until the ground-water is almost reached. Where the 

 water cannot get away there will be swamps and even shallow lakes. 



FIG. 32. Heath of Sand-plain. In front, the Wild-irishman (Di*cnri<i totamttou). 

 Lands Department.] [Photo, L. Cockayne. 



In sandy hollows the pioneer plant is a creeping-sedge (Carex pumila), 

 which soon builds miniature dunes. The sand-gunnera (Guntu-ni- 

 (irenaria), forming close mats of small pale-green leaves flattened to 

 the ground, is also very abundant in many localities. Such hollows 

 finally become occupied by introduced grasses and plants of the clover 

 family, and these render the dune region of economic importance, 

 though the grazing by sheep and cattle leads in time to instability 

 of the nature-fixed hills and to the filling- up of the hollows. 



