Petrie. — Account of a Visit to Mount Hector. 289 



I consider this a perfectly distinct species, as species go in 

 this protean genns. It is not nearly as close to V. tetragona as 

 V. quadrifaria (T. Kirk) is to V. tetrasticha (Hook. f.). 



Specimens were first sent to me by Mr. Aston, but as they 

 showed neither flower nor fruit they could not be referred with 

 certainty to the genus. In January of this year, during my short 

 visit to Mount Hector, specimens were obtained in flower, and 

 from these the description has been drawn up. 



In Cheeseman's Flora of New Zealand V. tetragona is 

 recorded as occurring in the Tararuas, but he does not appear 

 to have examined authentic specimens from that district. It 

 is not unlikely that the present species has been confounded 

 with Hooker's plant. The latter is abundant on Mount Hiku- 

 rangi, at an altitude of 4,000 ft. and upwards, and it may quite 

 well grow on the Tararuas also, but this must for the present 

 remain uncertain. 



Art. XXIV. — Account of a Visit to Mount Hector, a High Peak 

 of the Tararuas, with List of Flowering -plants. 



By D. Petrie, M.A. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 28th August, 1907.] 



Though the Tararua Mountains lie at no great distance from 

 Wellington, where the ablest and most enthusiastic botanical 

 workers of the last generation resided, the vegetation of the 

 higher parts of the range is still but imperfectly known. What 

 we do know has been gleaned from fragmentary collections of 

 plants brought down by surveyors, and by climbers allured 

 to the tops by the prospect of an exhilarating walk and of 

 superb and far-reaching views. 



To throw more light on the botanical features of this 

 interesting region, my friends Dr. L. Cockayne and Mr. B. C. 

 Aston lately began a somewhat systematic exploration that 

 has already yielded important results, and has made it possible 

 to prepare a pretty full list of the alpine and subalpine plants. 



The higher peaks of the Tararuas reach an elevation of 

 about 5,000 ft. above sea-level. Most of them lie towards th 

 eastern slopes of the range, and have been repeatedly ascended 

 from the side of the Wairarapa Plain. The most extensive 

 area of high alpine meadow or grass land seems, however, to 

 he at the southern extremity of the high range, in the region 

 of which Mount Hector, 5,106 ft. in height, is the centre. So 

 far as I am aware, no one interested in native plants visited 

 10— Trans. 



