50 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE NATURAL SHRUBBERIES. 



Some peculiarities of New Zealand shrubs The southern heath the northern 

 heath Parasitic plants The central heath New vegetation since eruption 

 of Tarawera Adaptations of the heath plants The subalpine scrub- 

 Shrubby veronicas and daisy-trees Contrivances of scrub plants to resist 

 drought Prolonged juvenile forms of New Zealand plants Some 

 interesting experiments Various forms of the yellow kowhai. 



NEW ZEALAND SHRUBS ix GENERAL. 



IN all gardens where a speciality is made of our native plants, it is not 

 the trees which are there to be found, but rather the shrubs of the 

 open country. Obviously, these latter are more easy to cultivate 

 than forest plants. But this is not the sole reason : it is special 

 beauty of form or flower that has marked them out as of peculiar 

 merit. In any large garden in the world New Zealand shrubs would 

 deservedly occupy a prominent place. Moreover, they belong, in 

 many instances, to families which have no shrubby representatives in 

 the Old World, whence all our ideas as to botanical form are derived. 



The Germander speedwell is a pretty little creeping-plant of Eng- 

 lish lanes, with bright - blue flowers. It has many relatives in the 

 Old Country, and in both hemispheres ; but, with the exception of its 

 New Zealand cousins, one other in Fuegia and a couple or so in Aus- 

 tralia and Tasmania, all are herbs, or at best only woody in part. 

 Nearly all the New Zealand speedwells are woody, and vary in habit 

 from plants a few inches tall to forest-trees. Plants of the daisy 

 family are usually herbaceous ; but in a few 7 regions, especially oceanic 

 islands, shrubby forms occur, New Zealand being comparatively rich 

 in such forms. Shrubby plants of the heath family are also frequent 

 in our natural shrubberies, and some are of large size and quaint form. 



The New Zealand shrubs, too, show some excellent examples of a 

 certain remarkable phenomenon common amongst our plants, but 

 much less frequent in other regions of similar size. This is the passing- 

 through a juvenile form, during the development of the individual, 



