Petkie. Account of a Visit to Mount Hector. 295 



enter the alpine grass or meadow region, and have done with 

 all forest and shrubby growth. The mountain meadow con- 

 sists of extensive bare slopes and undulating ridges covered 

 by a varied low vegetation, among which Astelia nervosa is, at 

 the lower levels, by far the most abundant plant. Ligusticum 

 dissectum is also very plentiful. Mixed with these are Aciphylla 

 Colensoi (var. conspicua), Gentiana patula, Celmisia spectabilis, 

 and rare plants of Uncinia purpurea (var. fusco-vaginata) 

 Grasses formed an important element in this assemblage. Dan- 

 thonia Raoulii and its variety flavescens were abundant, but 

 neither here nor at any higher level on the mountain was this 

 species found in flower, though the plants grew with great 

 luxuriance. Other grasses occurring in this lower tract were 

 a distinct-looking, tufted, wiry form of Danthonia semiannularis, 

 a wiry, strongly tufted form of Deyeuxia setifolia, Ehrharta 

 Colensoi, Agrostis Dyeri, Deyeuxia Forsteri, and an erect, wiry, 

 short-leaved form of Deschampsia tenella, differing strongly in 

 habit from the flaccid drooping plant that one finds in the 

 open woodlands of eastern Otago, where I first observed the 

 species. 



In the more level spots considerable areas of shallow, half- 

 peaty, half- swampy soil are met with, and here the vegetation 

 is very different. The most abundant and most characteristic 

 plant is Abrotanella pusilla, a species that has not been seen 

 since Colenso discovered it, nearly sixty years ago, on the Rua- 

 hine Range. It is a very slender, low, densely matted, moss- 

 like plant, with an inflorescence that barely exceeds the leaves, 

 carpeting quite a large proportion of all wet and boggy ground. 

 With it occur Astelia linearis (in fine fruit), Carpha alpina, 

 Centrolepis viridis, Caltha novce-zelandio3, Oreobolus pumilio, 

 Liparophyllum Gunnii, J uncus antarcticus, Drosera stenopetala, 

 Uncinia compacta, Lyperanthus antarcticus, and a few other 

 species of less interest. On the drier edges of the boggy stations 

 Gentiana bellidifolia, in full flower and very variable in height 

 and branching, was common, and here a few patches of Triodia 

 australis were also found. The small Abrotanella ascends almost 

 to the top of the mountain, and in drier stations forms more 

 compact and rather taller tufts. 



On the edge of a shallow sheltered basin at no great height 

 above the level of the subalpine scrub grew some fine plants 

 of Olearia lacunosa, still in full bloom, and exhaling a strong 

 and agreeable perfume. This is without doubt the plant that 

 Buchanan has distinguished as Olearia alpina. So far as I am 

 aware, this botanist ne\er saw it growing in its native habitat, 

 and he probably had very imperfect specimens before him 

 when he concluded that it was a new species. It differs from 



