150 Transactions^. 



Art. XXV. — An Ecological Study of some New Zealand Sand-dune 



Plants. 



By Miss E. J. Pegg, M.A. 



Communicated by Dr. Charles Chilton. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 3rd December, Htl3.} 



Contents. Page 



A. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 



B. Field of observation, and description of plant covering . . . . 151 



C. Ecological conditions of the dune-plants . . . . 154 



D. Plant descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 



(a.) Habitat. 

 (b.) Growth-form, 

 (c.) Anatomy. 

 (d.) Conclusion. 



E. Tables of leaf -characters . . . . . . . . 173 



F. General conclusions . . . . . . . . . . 175 



G. List of works consulted . . . . . . . . 176 



A. Introduction. 



The work of Warming (1895) and of Schimper (1898) gave an impetus 

 to the study of plant-ecology, and led to the publication of a considerable 

 amount of literature on the subject, and ecology is now recognized as an 

 important branch of botanical science. Previous to the year 1909 there 

 has not been much published regarding the ecology of New Zealand sand- 

 dune plants, the subject treated of in this paper. Various papers, mostly 

 floristic, in the " Transactions of the New Zealand Institute " have dealt 

 with or referred to the sand-dunes or littoral districts of various parts of 

 New Zealand, and lists of species, generally incomplete, have been there 

 included. For example, — ■ 



J. B. Armstrong, in " A Short Sketch of the Flora of the Province of 

 Canterbury, with Catalogue of Species" (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 12, p. 325), 

 mentions some of the dominant plants of the littoral district of Canter- 

 bury Province, and in his list of species (grouped in families) he gives the 

 locality in which the plants are found. 



J. Buchanan, in his " List of Plants found on Miramar Peninsula, 

 Wellington Harbour" (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 1, p. 349), gives a list of 

 some eighty-two species (belonging to fifty-two genera) of plants of swamp, 

 sand-dune, and seaside botanical regions, which plants, he says, " having 

 here an estuarine relation, may be grouped as one ; spreading, as many 

 of the species do, over the whole district, it would be difficult to separate 

 them on the experience of this locality alone." 



J. Buchanan and T. Kirk give a " List of Plants in Northern District 

 of the Province of Auckland " (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 2, p. 239). The 

 plants are not grouped according to their environment, but the locality 

 of each species is given. 



H. Carse, in his articles " On the Flora of Mangonui County " (Trans. N.Z. 

 Inst., vol. 43, p. 194) and "On the Flora of the Mauku District" (vol. 34, 

 p. 362), gives lists of plants, and includes a short description of plants of 

 sandhills, mentions some of the chief plants, and gives a catalogue of the 

 flowering-plants and ferns of the districts studied, the plants being grouped 

 in their families, and the environment of each species being mentioned. 



RT. Kirk, in his article " On the Botany of the Thames Goldfield " (Trans. 

 N.Z. Inst., vol. 2, p. 89), mentions about thirty-six species of plants of the 



