Poppelwell. — Botanical Excursion to Long Island. 169 



Colensoi, Enargia parviflora, with stunted Olearia Colensoi, Metrosideros 

 facida, and Senecio rotundifolius, and the bog-plants Celmisia longtfolia var., 

 Astelia linearis, Oreobolus pectinatus, 0. strictus ; also Gahnia procera and Carex 

 trifida. The ground was also dotted over with coral moss, and in parts with 

 Lycopodium ramulosum. The whole of this formation was very wind-swept. 

 The Leptospermum was lying prostrate, and formed a close mat over con- 

 siderable patches, the plants being rooted right along to the ends of the 

 branches; the ultimate tips were erect and close together, forming a solid 

 mat. Adjoining the above heath there was a low-scrub association con- 

 sisting of many of the heath-plants above mentioned, but also contain- 

 ing Daorydium intermedium fairly plentifully with Weinmannia raceniosa, 

 Coprosma Colensoi, and Griselinia littoralis. In the wetter parts of the heath 

 I also noted Donatio, novae-zelandiae, Hydrocotyle novae-zelandiae, Drosera 

 spathulata, Gleichenia circinata, and Schizaea fistulosa var australis ; and, 

 where the ground was drier, Senecio bellidioides var., Cardamine lietero- 

 phylla, Yhormium tenax (rare), and the ferns Pteridium esculentum and 

 Blechnum capense. 



Summary. 



From the list appended hereto it will be seen that the number of species 

 noted was seventy-five, spread over fifty-three genera and twenty-nine 

 families. I do not think that further investigation will disclose many new 

 species on these outlying islands, the ecological conditions being so much 

 alike. From what I saw of the vegetation of several of the islands near 

 Long Island it does not differ materially from that described above. Most 

 of the other islands are, however, much lower in altitude and smaller in 

 area, and have little or no heath formation. 



The most interesting feature of the pi ant -cove ring of these islands is the 

 epharmonic relations of its members to climatic and eclaphic conditions. 

 The wonderful way in which many of the plants adapt themselves to their 

 environment is most instructive. 



If w T e compare the published list of species from the Solanders, Long 

 Island, and the Breakseas, all of which islands possess much in common 

 in their conditions, it will be seen that they have a considerable per- 

 centage of plants in common. Thus out of nineteen species reported 

 from the Solanders* seventeen are found at Long Island, and the other two 

 species, Thelymitra uniflora and Senecio Stewartiae, will most likely upon 

 further investigation also be found. I think also that further examination 

 of the Solanders will disclose many more species there in common with the 

 island now under review, especially in the heath formations, not yet 

 examined, of the higher parts of the island. Of sixty-nine species reported 

 from Breaksea Islandsf forty-three are also included in the list appended 

 hereto. This connection is, if anything, more accentuated when the genera 

 are considered. 



So many islands scattered over the ocean at such long distances apart 

 and still having so many genera and species in common certainly suggest 

 land connection at some time. The flora common to all extended areas 

 of that time would, by a process of gradual elimination brought about by the 

 altered ecological conditions of a reduced and lowered land surface, suffi- 



* L. Cockayne, On a Collection of Plants from the Solanders, Trans. N.Z. Inst., 

 vol. 41, 1909, p. 404. 



1 1). L. Poppelwell, Notes on the Plant-covering of the Breaksea Islands, Trans. 

 X.Z. Inst., vol. 48, 1916, p. 246. 



