80 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



on the driest rocks imaginable, can get sufficient food seems a mystery* 

 It puts one in mind of William Watson's lines- 

 Some adventurous flower 



On savage crag-side grown 

 Seems nourished hour by hour 

 From its wild self alone. 



Growing in company with 0. insignis is Phormium Cookianum? 

 its leaves drooping from the cliff ; the delightful Veronica Hulkeana, 

 with varnished green leaves, whose masses of delicate lilac flowers- 

 have earned for it the name of New r Zealand lilac ; and the aniseed 

 ( A ngelica Gingidium) . 



The only member of the gourd family in New Zealand is at the 

 present time quite rare on the mainland, and it may be best seen on 

 some of the outlying islands of the north. On the Little Barrier,, 

 at the foot of the cliffs, it is abundant, scrambling over the kawa- 

 kawa (Macropiper excelsum), or ascending to the topmost branches, 

 of the pohutukawas. 



Certain ferns are peculiar to the coast, and are frequent on the 

 cliffs. The most widely spread is the sea - spleenwort (Asplenium 

 obtusatum). The coastal hard -fern (Blechnum durum) occurs only 

 in the southern part of the South Island and in Stewart Island, but 

 it is abundant also in the New Zealand subantarctic islands and the 

 Chathams. All the coastal ferns have very thick and stiff leaves. 



THE SALT MEADOWS AND SALT MARSHES. 



Along the banks of tidal rivers and estuaries there is frequently 

 low ground covered at flood tide with brackish water, or, where higher, 

 subject merely to a periodical submerging. Of both such situations- 

 the covering is fairly uniform throughout New Zealand. Colonies- 

 of rush-like plants form the bulk of the vegetation. The most striking" 

 is the rush-like Leptocarpus simplex, whose stiff, reddish, jointed 

 stems, a yard or more tall, render it very conspicuous. It belongs to 

 a family (Restionaceae) confined almost entirely to South Africa and 

 Australia. A true rush (Juncus maritimus, var. australiensis) is 

 also very common, but it has not been found south of Timarii. 

 Dotted over the salt meadow, or growing in close masses, is the shrubby 

 ribbonwood (Plagianthus divaricatus), a shrub of a dense habit, and 

 made up of slender, wiry, dark-coloured interlacing twigs covered. 



