290 Transactions. — Botany. 



which stamp the physiognomy of the meadow. Where the 

 tussock and fern are not so dense Ligiisticum antipodum 

 occurs in such quantity as to add bright-green patches of 

 colour in an equal proportion with the yellow grass or dark 

 fern. But if the eye be cast not so far afield, then the pale- 

 green of the Accena, climbing amongst the tussock or fern, and 

 the withered brown fronds of Pteris iyicisa add other features 

 to the general picture. 



The soil of the meadow consists on the surface of rather 

 loose brown peat, so soft that a stout stick can be thrust 

 deeply into it. Water cannot be wrung out of the surface- 

 soil, but this can be quickly kneaded into the consistency of 

 porridge. The surface is very uneven, the dead trunks of 

 grass or fern forming mounds on which many plants grow, 

 while between the living tussocks are numerous slight de- 

 pressions and deeper hollows. Everywhere the ground is 

 occupied by vegetation, which, although not rich in species, 

 consists of many individuals. 



Amongst the most frequent plants are the following : 

 Foliaceous and fruticose lichens, mosses of several species, 

 liverworts, Lomafia alpina, Pratia arenaria, AccBua sanguisorbcs 

 antarctica, Luzula crinita, Gentiana antipoda, Epilohium 

 linncsoides, Hypolejns millefolium, Epilohium sp. — the E. 

 alsinoides of Kirk's list (56, p. 230) — Stellaria decipiens angiis- 

 tata (66, p. 57), Lycopodium fastigiatiim, Lycopodium varium, 

 Aspleiiium bulbiferum — a form with thick leaves — Hymeno- 

 phyllum imdtifidum, Helichrysum prostratum, Coprosma repens, 

 and Coprosma cuncata. 



The carpet of small plants clothing the peaty ground is 

 not a uniform one. Notes taken in various parts of the meadow 

 show that sometimes one plant and sometmies another is the 

 leading one for the particular station ; for instance, in some 

 places the thick-leaved form of Asplenium bulbiferum is 

 abundant, in othei's is much Hymenopliyllum, vudtifidnm, with 

 its fronds curled up and arching downwards until partly 

 buried amongst the mosses or liverworts which grow in its 

 company. 



In the shelter of a grass-tussock Lycopodium varium 

 i 25 cm. tall is frequent ; below it is erect and furnished 

 with many yellowish-green imbricating leaves, while above its 

 brownish spikes arch downwards. Ligusticum antipoduvi, as 

 well as the tussock and Aspidium, also plays its part as a 

 shelter- plant, its leaves spreading out radially, with their 

 surface more or less horizontal, such plants averaging about 

 78 cm. in diauieter and 22 cm, in height. 



One or two quotations from my notebook may assist in 

 giving a picture of the floor of the meadow : " Here on ground 

 where the tussocks and fern are more distant, growing in the 



