Laing. — Botany of the Spenser Mountain*. 63 



and some cut out for timber. A fuller description of this forest and of 

 the Sphagnum bog on the Ada Saddle are given, as they differ consider- 

 ably in composition from the similar associations observed in the Arrow- 

 smith district. 



Physiognomic Changes. 



The district has been in occupation by runholders almost since its 

 discovery, and as a result many changes have been effected in the general 

 composition of its vegetation. On the river-flats of the Ada and Clarence 

 Valleys English pasture grasses have been sown, and flourish luxuriantly, 

 displacing to a large extent the native plant covering. The lower portion 

 of the Ada Valley contains beautiful pasturage of cocksfoot and white 

 clover, with here and there a considerable admixture of Yorkshire fog. 

 Occasional patches of Acaena microphylla, A. Sangwisorbae, Asperula perpu- 

 silla, Oreomyrrhis andicola, Cotula dioica, C. squalida, and specimens of 

 Stackhousia minima. Ranunculus foliosus, &c, occur in the midst of the 

 pasture. In the stonier portions it is crossed by lines and thickets of 

 Discaria scrub, which rises to a height of 15 ft. to 20 ft., intermingled with 

 occasional specimens of Coprosma propinqua and Veronica cupressoides. 

 This pasture in the Ada Valley passes at its upper margin into Nothojagus 

 forest. The original tussock steppe and the forest-area has been much 

 altered by burning. Severe burns have evidently taken place from time 

 to time, and much of the southern beech* is second growth, with the stumps 

 of the older and heavier trees still standing above it. Sorrel is rapidly 

 gaining ground in many places, and is even invading the shingle -slips. 

 Above the bush is Danthonia steppe, which has also in some places 

 been subjected to severe burning. The fell-fields, too, have suffered occa- 

 sionally from this cause, and new shingle-slips have sometimes formed 

 where the old vegetation has been burnt out. It is difficult, however, to 

 say whether consolidation from shingle-slip to fell-fields is not taking place 

 at an equal or greater rate in neighbouring localities. 



The Nothofagus cliffortioides Forest. 



The forest of the Ada Valley may be taken as typical of this associa- 

 tion. I therefore transcribe my notes upon it, with a few omissions. The 

 river-flats have to a large extent been denuded of forest, and that on the 

 sides of the valley has been much burnt and run through by stock. At its 

 margin the ground-floor is covered to some extent with introduced herbage ; 

 native plants, however, occur, such as Brachycome Sinclairii, Erechtites 

 prenanthoides, Hydrocotyle novae-zelandiae. As we go further in we find a 

 large number of young beeches, showing that the forest tends to replace 

 itself. Amongst them are often plants of Oreomyrrhis, Asperula perpusilla. 

 <fec, and many introduced weeds. Elytranthe tetrapetala is also abundant 

 amongst the foliage of the southern- beech forest. Here the largest beeches 

 have only a diameter of 6 in., and doubtless replace the primeval forest, 

 which has been destroyed by fire perhaps thirty years ago. The forest- 

 floor where otherwise bare is covered with beech-leaves, spread over a rich 

 brown humus, fairly free from stones. There is also abundant upon it 

 Veronica vernicosa var. canterburiensis (Armstrong). In more open spaces 

 Epilobium pubens and Helichrysum bellidioides appear. As we go deeper 



* I am using, at Dr. Cockayne's suggestion, the term " southern beech " (Nothofagus) 

 to distinguish our forests from the beech (Fngus) forests of the Northern Hemisphere. 



