110 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



modern science. We live in the age of scientific plant-breeding. 

 Day by day its importance is realised. Scientists are only now for 

 the first time delving deeply into the mysteries of hybridisation. 

 By scientific breeding, the sugar-beet has had its sugar-content in- 

 creased more than 10 per cent. ; and there seems no reason why the 

 fibre-content of phormium, both as to quantity and especially as to 

 quality, should not be augmented, and pedigree breeds of our " flax ' 

 come into cultivation. 



BOGS AND SOME OF THEIR PLANTS. 



According as water varies in regard to the chemicals it holds in solu- 

 tion, so does it offer different stations for plant-life. Certain waters 

 are rich in lime ; in others this is wanting to a great extent, and acids 

 are present instead. Therefore the presence of lime-rich or acid- 

 rich water sharply separates water-soaked ground into the two classes, 

 swamps and bogs. Of course, transitions exist between these. In 

 addition, the water of a bog is coffee-coloured, and contains a large 

 quantity of organic matter. Those small plants called bacteria, 

 which play such an important role in adding the all-important nitrogen- 

 compounds (nitrates) to the soil, are also scarce in bogs. 



At a glance, bog-vegetation can be distinguished from that of 

 swamps. The bog - moss (species of Sphagnum) is nearly always 

 present in the former, and forms rounded cushions and hillocks of a 

 whitish colour, on which many of the bog-plants make their home. 

 For some unexplained reason bogs are physiologically dry, and con- 

 sequently many of their plants must be protected against drought. 

 It is with these unfortunates, indeed, a case of ' water everywhere 

 and not a drop to drink." Many bog-plants, owing to these adapta- 

 tions, can exist excellently well in dry places. Phyllachne Colaistn. 

 <'.<]., a beautiful green cushion-plant of most dense habit of growth, 

 thrives equally well in subalpine bogs and at the heads of alpine 

 shingle-slips. 



Bogs occur both in the lowlands and mountains. They are com- 

 mon on the narrow peninsula of the far North, and also occupy much 

 ground in Stewart Island, the same brownish wiry-stemmed rush- 

 like plant (Hypolaena lateriflora) being common in both localities. 

 Many identical species occur in both lowland and alpine bogs, and 

 those of Stewart Island at almost sea-level bear a close relationship 

 to those of the Southern Alps. 



