76 Transfictians. 



Art. IV. — Notes on the Plant Covering of Codfish Island and ike Rugged 



Islands. 



By D. L. Poppelwell. 



[Read before the Otago Institute. 3rd October, ]y]].\ 

 Plate IX. 



A. General. 



Codfish Island and the Rugged Islands lie oft' the north-west coast of 

 Stewart Island, and form practically the first barrier met by the south- 

 western storms on their long journey from the Antarctic ice. Unstayed 

 by any break for thousands of miles, these fierce winds sweep across the 

 waters, raising them in angry waves, which, gathering strength and bulk 

 as they travel, ultimately strike these islands with almost irresistible force. 

 The torn and ragged nature of the western coasts speak eloquently of their 

 struggle with these keen winds and storms. The vegetation, too, has 

 through the ages found its place in the struggle for existence both as 

 regards its form and distribution. Dr. Cockayne, in his splendid and 

 exhaustive report on the botany of Stewart Island, has confined himself 

 practically to the mainland, hence a few notes on the flora of these hitherto - 

 unbotanized western ramparts may be interesting. 



During Easter, along with a small party of Gore residents, including 

 Messrs. G. J. Anderson, M.P., and R. Fisher, to the latter of whom I am 

 indebted for the photographs here published, I had the good fortune, by 

 the courtesy of the Messrs. Hansen Brothers, to spend the best part of 

 two days at Codfish Island. We left Half-moon Bay by steamer early on 

 Monday, the 17th April, arriving at Sealers' Bay, Codfish Island, at 

 10.30 a.m., and left again at 3.30 p.m. on the following day. I spent 

 several hours of each day examining the flora, and this paper is based 

 upon observation and notes taken on the spot. 



Sealers' Bay about eighty years ago was the site of a sealing settlement ; 

 hence, no doubt, the name. The island has long since been deserted, but 

 signs of the old settlement are evident in the clearings in the forest where 

 the huts once stood. 



The indigenous species noted numbered 111, belonging to seventy-six 

 genera and thirty-seven orders. 



In addition to the indigenous plants, some five naturalized plants were 

 observed, all of which were confined to the open land, and all but one were 

 on the sand-dunes. Perhaps the most abundant of these plants were 

 Mentha spicata and Foeniculum officinale. Both of these species are 

 used for flavouring sauces, and no doubt were a survival of the old 

 settlement on Codfish Island. Two other plants were Cryptostemma calen- 

 dulaceum and Cnicus lance<datus. the seeds of which were no doubt carried 

 by the wind. The fifth plant was the almost universal Poa pratensis, 

 probably introduced bv cattle, of which there are a few on the island. 



None of these colonists played any dominant part in the plant-asso- 

 ciation, although Mentha spicata held its own with the ferns — Pteridium 

 aquilinum and Lomaria capensis — in the forest clearings, and Foeniculum 

 officinale occupied the position of isolated plants fairly plentifully dotted 

 ov«t the sandhills. 



