Cockayne. — Plants of Chatham Island. 275 



formation which occurs so frequently on the island as to have 

 attracted the notice of the settlers, who call it " Mingimingi 

 scrub." Mixed with the Goprosma are the tall grass Arundo 

 conspicua, Phormium tenax, Carex secta, Carex forsteri(?), 

 Deschampsia ccespitosa, and quantities of Epilobium pallidi- 

 Jlorum, E. billardierianum, E. chionanthum var., and a large 

 species of Astelia which is perhaps new. 



As soon as the swamp becomes a shade drier small trees 

 make their appearance, and this point is evidently the line of 

 tension between swamp and forest. The first tree to appear 

 is the xerophytic Olearia traversii ; then Dracophyllum ar- 

 boreum becomes abundant, mixed with Coriaria ruscifolia, 

 Pseudopa7iax chathamica, and Myrsine coxii. Hymenanthera 

 chathamica and Senecio huntii also occur to some extent. 

 Mixed with this arborescent vegetation are all the swamp 

 plants mentioned before, Leptocarpus simplex excepted, and 

 large quantities of the fern Lomaria procera. Such a "scrub" 

 is often extremely dense, and almost impossible to be tra- 

 versed. On the banks of Sandstone Creek a very dense for- 

 mation of this kind, almost in its virgin state, may be seen. 



As the water-content of the swamp gradually decreases, 

 through accumulations of vegetable matter becoming peat, so 

 do the trees become more and more numerous, until finally, as 

 in the case of Lake Huro, mentioned above, a true forest makes 

 its appearance. The trees of the formation need not be re- 

 duced to mere shrubs ; on the contrary, the Pseudopanax, 

 Coriaria, and others, attain in the Huro Swamp a height of 

 6 m. Wherever a sluggish stream flows through a lowland 

 forest, and at times inundates the neighbouring ground, the 

 character of the forest changes, and a formation of Goryno- 

 carpus Icevigata, Goprosma chathamica, Bhopalostijlis baueri{?\, 

 Hymenanthera chathamica, and Myrsine chathamica changes 

 to one of Myrsine coxii, Dracophyllum arboreicm, and Olearia 

 traversii, this latter plant being of more lowly growth than 

 when growing in the drier forest. 



Those of the swamp plants which differ little from the New 

 Zealand forms of the same species growing under similar con- 

 ditions need not be further dealt with here ; Dracophyllum 

 arboreum and Senecio huntii are treated of at some length 

 further on, when dealing with the "tableland forest," so 

 there only remains Myrsine coxii for special mention. 

 This is a rather twiggy shrub, attaining under favourable 

 circumstances a height of 3 m. or 4m. Its leaves are close 

 together, and form rather a dense mass at the ends of the 

 branches. They are small, averaging about 1-8 cm., including 

 the leaf-stalk, by 8 mm., and are narrow-obovate in shape. 

 The fruit is of a beautiful mauve colour, and was doubtless 

 originally distributed by means of native birds. These latter, 



