Laing. — Subalpine Element in the Flora of Banks Peninsula. 57 



On Mounts Fitzgerald and Sinclair the subalpine element is best de- 

 veloped. Several species occur there which I have not found elsewhere. 

 On approaching the latter mountain from the south-east by the old Purau 

 line we find the bush suddenly disappear at about 2,600 ft., and the re- 

 maining portion of the peak is covered with a subalpine meadow, approach- 

 ing, however, in some of its characteristics to a fellfield. The plant 

 association is composed chiefly of Danthonia flavescens (var. apparently 

 intermediate between D. flavescens and D. Raoulii), interspersed with 

 Achiphylla Colensoi, Hierochloe redolens, Danthonia semianmdaris, D. 

 Cunninghamii, Phormium Cookianum, and tufts of Poa Colensoi. A little 

 farther up, Raoulia glabra, Wahlenbergia saxicola, Anisotome aromatica, 

 Drapetes Dieffenbachii, and Ourisia macrophylla (forma) make their ap- 

 pearance. None of these yet mentioned, except Hierochloe redolens, Poa 

 Colensoi, and Danthonia semianmdaris are to be found lower down the 

 mountain-side. On Mount Fitzgerald other subalpine forms appear. 

 Amongst these may especially be noted an unexpected" form of Veronica 

 Lyallii. This species I have not seen elsewhere on the peninsula. Indeed,, 

 several of the species here show some variation from the typical forms. 

 This is perhaps not to be wondered at, as the Ourisia and Veronica are 

 not to be found nearer than Porter's Pass, fifty miles away. It is almost 

 to be expected that, as far at least as alpine plants are concerned, these 

 hill-tops should present the characteristics of an insular flora. The nearest 

 point to the peninsula at which Drapetes occurs is Mount Gray, some thirty- 

 odd miles to the northward. 



Between Mounts Sinclair and Fitzgerald is to be seen the beginnings 

 of a subalpine scrub, consisting of Dracophyllum uniflorum var. aciculari- 

 folium, Myrsine divaricata, Olearia ilicifolia, and 0. nummular i folia — -an 

 unexpected species, not to be found elsewhere on the peninsula, so far as 

 I know. A silvery- white form of Acaena Sanguisorbae is also abundant 

 between this point and Mount Herbert, and is occasionally to be met with 

 elsewhere. 



On the south-eastern slopes of the peninsula there has been a Nothofagus 

 forest, which perhaps may also be included under the term " subalpine," 

 as it occupied chiefly the tops of the hills. It is now nearly completely 

 destroyed ; but at one time it stretched along the tops of the ridges behind 

 Long Bay* to Damon's Bay, outside Akaroa Heads. The forest crosses 

 the ridge to the Akaroa side of the hills immediately behind the town near 

 the Stony Bay track, but I have not been in this portion of it. It pro- 

 bably does not descend anywhere below 1,500 ft. The species of beech 

 represented in it are Nothofagus fusca, N. cliffortioides, and N. Solandri. 

 N. fusca is there in largest quantity, and often in magnificent specimens. 

 N. Solandri is found on the ridge immediately behind Long Bay, varying 

 much in the form of its leaf, which sometimes approaches that of N. Blairii. 

 Small quantities of N. cliffortioides are intermingled with it. Cordyline 

 indivisa and Panax Colensoi, which are not common elsewhere on the 

 peninsula, occur within or on the edges of the forest, together with a con- 

 siderable number of other species which, however, are elsewhere abundant 

 on the peninsula. 



The presence of this subalpine element is perhaps to be expected on hills 

 which reach to an altitude of 3,000 ft., particularly when it is remembered 

 that many of the species here recorded come to a lower level elsewhere. 



* This is the Long Bay on the eastern side of the peninsula. 



