400 Transactions. — Botany. 



that mountain almost to the limit of the shrubs at 1,200m., 

 finally burning the whole of the shrubljy vegetation on the 

 more level portions of the pass — in places crossing the road — 

 except a few^ patches here and there, as far as the Fagots 

 forest in its south-west corner, the outskirts of which were in 

 places destroyed. It is also quite possible that this same 

 fire was responsible for the burning of most of the vegetation 

 on the Canterbury side of Hilbs Peak. Previous to the last 

 fire or fires the whole of Arthur's Pass except swamps and 

 ground liable to flood was covered by more or less dense sub- 

 alpine scrub. This subalpine scrub, or dense mass of rigid 

 branching shrubs, is one of the most noteworthy features of 

 New Zealand vegetation, and has always been made a subject 

 of considerable comment by New Zealand exploi'ers and the 

 hke. The Eev. W. S. Green thus wrote of it : '■'- '' There 

 were a number of other bushes with sti-ong gnarled stems and 

 small leaves" ; these "combined to form as ungetthroughable 

 an obstacle as it was possible to imagine." Haast also 

 speaks of such shrubs as " impenetrable scrub," and, writmg 

 of Mems Knob, he says,| " For botanical purposes I returned 

 to the foot of the hill through the bush, a herculean task, 

 particularly for one of portly dimensions, as we had often to 

 lie flat on the ground and crawl through or walk over the tops 

 of the branches." T. Kirk describes:^ graphically a similar 

 scrub on Mount Anglem, Stewart Island ; and Dr. Diels, in 

 his recent work on the biology of New Zealand plants, § treats 

 of this subalpine scrub at some length. 



The subalpine scrub occurs usually just above the forest- 

 line, at first intermixed with the forest-trees and afterwards 

 forming a distinct belt and barrier between the forest and 

 the grass-line for a varying distance, and ending usually at 

 1,000m. to 1,200m., or even higher. Such scrub occurs more 

 or less on all the high mountains; but on the dryer ones — 

 such as those of Central Otago, East Nelson, Marlborough, 

 or the eastern portions of the Southern Alps — not forming a 

 distinct belt, but only patches in places. Its tendency to 

 burn is well exemplified by the local name, " turpentine 

 scrub." Growing in association with this scrub, in places 

 where it is not too dense, and especially towards its highest 

 altitudinal limit, are the most striking herbaceous plants 



* " The High Alps of New Zealand," by the Rev. W. S. Green. Lon- 

 don, 1883. 



t " Report of the Head Waters of the River Rakaia," by Julius 

 Haast, Ph.D. Christchurch, 1886 (page 20). 



\ " On the Flowering plants of Stewart Island," by T. Kirk, F.L.S. 

 (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xvii., p. 220). 



§ " Vegetfttions-Biologie von Neu-Seeland," von L. Diels. Leipzig, 

 1896 (pp. 261-263). 



