Cockayne. — Botanical Excursion to Southern Islands. 275 



3. Loiver Tussock Meadoiv. 



Buchanan writes (9, p. 398), "The whole coast-line is 

 rugged in the extreme, although inland large flat areas may 

 be seen apparently covered by grasses and indicating rich 

 pasture. This appearance, however, on closer examination, is 

 found to be deceptive, as but few grasses exist, and a coarse 

 wet cyperaeeous pasture prevails, which would prove worth- 

 less for feed except for cattle of a hardy breed that would 

 stand the rigours of the climate. Tiiere is no doubt, however, 

 that on the lower levels, where soil can accumulate, a rich 

 though coarse vegetation exists ; but the land is so spongy and 

 wet that the finer grasses cannot thrive. The extreme wet- 

 ness of the soil is shown by the fact that wherever a plant is 

 dug out with a knife the hole immediately fills with water, 

 and an indication is thus obtained of the treatment such 

 plants should receive when it is attempted to grow them in a 

 drier climate." 



However true the above may be as regards certain por- 

 tions of the island, it certainly does not in the least apply to 

 the parts visited by me, and extending from sea-level to the 

 tops of two of the hills, one the highest on the island. It 

 may be that there are low-lying tracts occupied chiefly by 

 Carex, but so far as my investigations went, except where 

 there was scrub, grasses and not cyperaeeous plants abound, 

 and the tussocks which densely clothe the mountains from 

 summit to base are of grass and not of sedge, while small 

 grasses of various kinds are by no means uncommon. More- 

 over, such tussocks are at the present time feeding 4,500 

 sheep, and this on at most only one-half of the island. As 

 for the wet nature of the ground, it certainly does contain a 

 great deal of moisture, but even in the middle of winter water 

 cannot be generally wrung out of the peat ; nor did any hole 

 made by me in digging for plants fill with water, as, e.g., in the 

 bogs of Chatham Island. 



The lower tussock meadow forms a more or less distinct 

 zone on the hillsides from the sea-level to a height perhaps 

 of 150m., where it is succeeded by a second zone of meadow, 

 to which I have given the name "subalpine tussock meadow," 

 above which comes a third but narrow zone where Bostkovia 

 gracilis is the characteristic plant, while above and through 

 this latter is the final zone, that of the rock-plants. 



In no place where I was able to examine the lower tus- 

 sock meadow was it in its virgin condition. Everywhere on 

 Mount Honey, where at one time this formation must have 

 been typical, have sheep grazed for some years, and their 

 effect has been so marked that it is dealt with under another 

 heading. But even now it is not hard to form a very fair 



