4U-i Transactions. 



Ar'J'. XXXVIII. — On a Collection of Plants from the Solanders. 



By L. Cockayne, Ph.D. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Ganlerbury, -ith November, 1908.] 



The Solanders are two small islands lying in the Tasman Sea, twenty-two 

 miles south of the southward coast of the South Island, and W. ^ 8. 

 thirty-five miles from the north-west end of Stewart Island. The largest 

 island, . Solander Island, is nearly a mile in length, and rises abruptly 

 from the sea to a height of 1,100 ft. The other island, much smaller, lies 

 a mile to the westward. 



On the 22nd October, Captain J. BoUons, of the Gr.s.s. " Hinemoa," while 

 searching for a missing vessel, landed on the main island, and, eager as he 

 always is to advance our knowledge of New Zealand natural history, made, 

 together with Mrs. Bollons, a collection of the plants. This he was so kind 

 as to hand over to me, and I hasten to bring before your notice this first 

 collection of plants made on this isolated island. 



As seen from the appended hst, nineteen species were collected, of which 

 four are ferns. The vegetation is evidently closely allied to that of the 

 outlying islands of the Stewart Island group, on the one hand, and, more 

 distantly, to the coastal scrub of the West Coast Sounds, on the other. Poa 

 foliosa and Senecio Stewartiw also connect it with the Snares. Neither of 

 these two plants has been found on the South Island, nor has the Senecio 

 been recorded from Stewart Island itself, though it is fairly common, I under- 

 stand, on the small outlying islands. The Stilbocarpa differs from that of 

 Stewart Island, being much more hairy, of a rather dull green, and the 

 small veins on the back of the leaf are much raised, making it almost lacu- 

 nose. It increases by means of runners, as does the Stewart Island plant, 

 and consequently differs altogether from the Snares plant, with its massive 

 rhizome and no runners. 



A more searching examination than Captain Bollons was able to give 

 will probably show that other plants are present. One would certainly 

 expect Olearia angustifolia, Scivpus aucMandicus, S. cernuus, Gentian a 

 saxosa, one or two species of Hydrocotyle, and probably certain common 

 coastal plants ; also, the higher parts of the island not visited should have 

 species not found at a low level. 



LIST OF PLANTS, 

 Pteridophyta. 



Asplenium obtusatum, Forst. f. 



,, lucidum, Forst. f. 



Blechnum durum {Moore), C. Ckr. 

 Histiopteris incisa (Thhg.), J. Sm. 



Poa foliosa, Hook. f. 

 ,, Astoni, Petrie. 



Carex trifida, Cav. 



Speraiophyta. 

 GraminecB. 



Cyperacere. 



