Cockayne. — Botanical Excursion to Southern Islands. 265 



of the formation. Certainly there are some yellow flowers ; 

 e.g., Cotiila plumosa and perhaps Bulhinella rossii should be 

 here included. The gentian is described by Kirk as occasion- 

 ally white. Helichrj/S2cm prostratum is also found in New 

 Zealand, and it has white flower-heads. The flowers of Stil- 

 bocarpa polaris I have not seen in the living state ; they are 

 described by Kirk as " one-quarter of an inch in diameter, 

 yellow, waxy, shining, with purple centres" (66, p. 215). The 

 remaining plants have all small and inconspicuous flowers. 



Thus, the difference so far as colour is concerned between 

 a Pleurophyllum meadow and an allied formation in New Zea- 

 land proper is most marked. As to how such differences have 

 come about is discussed under another head. 



7. Suhalpine Meadoio. 



The portion of subalpine meadow visited by me was that 

 just above the forest-line at Camp Cove, in the south- of Auck- 

 land Island. Here the ground is at a gentle slope, and much 

 cut up by gullies, which are full of scrub. The soil, as else- 

 where in the Southern Islands, consists of peat, always more 

 or less saturated with water, and in places so wet that such 

 might be designated semi-bog. This differs considerably in 

 its plant-members from the drier part of the nieadow. The 

 dominant meadow-plant is the large coarse-leaved tussock- 

 grass Danthoma bronwides, w'hich gives a feature to the 

 landscape, as pointed out by Kirk (56, p. 221), similar to that 

 afforded by its relative, DantJionia raoulii, of the Canterbury 

 mountains. The meadow-scenery, in fact, to quote a very 

 familiar instance, much resembles that on either side of the 

 West Coast Eoad, in Canterbury, between Parapet Eock and 

 the road-crossing at Cave Creek. Dotted about all over the 

 meadow are bushes of Dracoj^hylhwi longifolium of about the 

 height of an average man, the xerophytic structure, stiff 

 needle-like leaves arranged semi-vertically and confined to the 

 ends of the shoots, enabling this forest-plant to hold its own 

 in the open in the full blast of the subalpine wind. Cassinia 

 vauvilliersii is also plentiful, in its case the small tomentose 

 leaves and strong stiff branches being in harmony with its 

 environment. Coprosma cuneata is also plentiful, and it, in 

 aiidition to small leaves of xerophytic form, creeps close to 

 the ground, and in consequence receives much shelter from 

 the tussocks and erect shrubs. On the surface of the ground 

 large patches of various species of moss are abundant, and on 

 the stems of the shrubs are various lichens. 



The semi-bog, which forms a distinct plant-association, 

 can at once be distinguished from the rest of the meadow by 

 the presence of the large, round, bright-green, dense cushions 

 of Phyllachne clavigera, a bog xerophyte of the typical form 



