364 Transactio/is. 



other species of Hijmenojjhyllum are to be found. The most characteristic 

 |)lant, however, is a species of Senecio, which, as Wall has shown, 

 between Lyttelton Heads and Gebbie"s Pass is *S'. saxijmyoides, but else- 

 wliere is Senecio lagopus in a large and well-developed form. Veronica 

 Lavaudiana is found above 800 ft. only, but Senecio saxijragoides comes 

 occasionally down to sea-level, though usually found above 800 ft. In 

 places also Angelica montana, Anisotome Enysii {]), Earina suaveolens, 

 Libertia grandiflora, and Raoulia glabra become members of the rock asso- 

 ciation ; but these species are to be found on all aspects of the hill, and, 

 with the exception of the plant here called Anisotome Enysii, can scarcely 

 be called distinctive species. This Senecio - Veronica Lavaudiana associa- 

 tion is highly characteristic of Banks Peninsula, and is met with nowhere 

 else. Above 1,500 ft. the distinction between the vegetation of rock-faces 

 with northern and southern aspects tends to disappear. Dracophyllum 

 aGicularijolmm var. uniflorum now becomes a highly characteristic shrub 

 of the cliffs and rocky faces, and the subal})ine species, to be described 

 later, begin to appear. 



To see the lower subalpine element at its best one may go to a cliff on 

 the south-west face of a peak — apparently nameless — between Cass Peak 

 and Cooper's Knobs. This hill is under 1,600 ft., but has an unsheltered 

 exposure towards the south-west, and this probably accounts for the great 

 variety of plants to be found on its face. Amongst the smaller forms 

 may be mentioned Hydrocotyle microphylla, Colobanthus Miielleri, Myosotis 

 pygmaea, Polypodium australe var. pmnila, Polypodium grammitidis (well 

 developed), Hynienophyllvm multifidum, Geranimn. sessilijlorum, Helichn/smn 

 heUidioides. On tlie Lyttelton Hills these species are not to be met with 

 at the lower levels, though elsewhere on the peninsula, where the rainfall 

 is higher, they come down much lower. Lycopodinm Jastigiafum, Veronica 

 Lavaudiana, Gaultheria antipoda (the erect form), and Dmco])hyUum uni- 

 florum also occur here in abundance. 



(8) The Forest. 



Distribution oj the Forest Areas. — In pre-European times Banks Pen- 

 insula was clad with dense forest, except on the hills overlooking the 

 plains and between Timutimu Head and Birdling's Flat, where the forests 

 were chiefly confined to valleys and hillto[)S. From Lyttelton Heads to 

 Kennedy's Bush there were no large forests, and between Kennedy's Bush 

 and Little River the forests were not continuous. The hills on the southern 

 side of Lyttelton Harbour were also in part bare ; from Little River to 

 Akaroa, and from Akaroa along the outer bays to Port Levy, there was an 

 almost continuous sheet of forest. Here and there the bald heads of some 

 of the higher peaks rose above the forest line, as in the case of Mount 

 Herbert and Mounts Sinclair and Fitzgerald ; but elsewhere the forest 

 wave swept over the hilltops, and was continuous except where broken 

 by cliffs. Certain trees . bundant on the western ranges, which probably 

 require a rainfall of 50 in., are conspicuously absent from the area : such 

 are Metrosideros lucida, Weinmannia racemosa, and Pkyllocladiis alpinus. 



Types oj Forest. — The forest is of two main types — (a) the podocarp 

 forest, and {h) the beech forest.* The podocarp forest can again be sub- 

 divided as to altitude into the lower podocar}) and the upper podocarp-cedar 



* This is not further described here, but see R. ]M. Laing, Trans. X.Z. Inst., vol. 46, 

 p. 58, 1914. 



