Oliver. — Vegetation of the Kennadec Islands. J 31 



high, with the periphery of dense foliage and numerous clusters of racemes 

 of many small white flowers. Leaves 6-8 cm. long, rhomboid-oblong, the 

 distal half deeply serrate. Other plants noticed on the slopes were Scirpus 

 nodosus, Rhagodia nutans, Parietaria debilis, Deyeiixia Forsteri, Solanum 

 nigrum (pubescent form), and Sonchus oleraceus. 



(c.) Ngaio (Myopurum) Scrub. — Next to forest this is perhaps the most 

 important plant association in the Kermadecs. It is essentially coastal, 

 occupying a belt above high-water mark, from which Metrosideros villosa is 

 absent. It is well developed where there is a space between the cliffs and 

 the water's edge, as on the east coast of Sunday Island. It is found at a 

 height of 25 m. above sea-level on the Terraces, and forms most of the vege- 

 tation of Meyer Island (highest point, 100 m. above sea-level). The original 

 vegetation of Macauley Island was in all probability ngaio scrub, but no 

 trace of it now remains, it having been burnt by whalers during last cen- 

 tury, when goats were liberated for the benefit of castaways. The narra- 

 tive of the discovery of the island by Captain Sever, in 1788, says, " The 

 top of the land was covered with a coarse kind of grass, and the place afiords 

 great plenty of the wild mangrove." The coarse grass is probably Mariscus 

 ustulatus, and the wild mangrove Mijoforum Icetum. In 1887 Mr. Percy 

 Smith observed the charred stumps of some ngaio {Myoporum Icetum), as 

 well as a few living shrubs of the same plant (17 ; p. 26). 



The principal members of the ngaio scrub are Myoporum Icetum, Pteris 

 comans, Mncropiper excelsum major, Sicyos australis, Mariscus ustulatus, 

 Carex Forsteri insularis, and Canavalia obtusifolia. 



Myoporum Icetum in the scrub formation is a low, spreading, irregularly 

 branched shrub, with the trunk and branches often more or less horizontal. 

 Foliage usually dense, with the upper surface, through which project 

 numerous dead twigs, sloping towards the sea. Leaves 12-14-5 cm. long, 

 3-4-5 cm. broad, light green, thick, almost fleshy, often deeply serrate ; 

 pellvicid glands scarcely visible. 



The ngaio scrub is exposed to constant winds bearing salt spray. The 

 upper surface of the foliage, therefore, slopes gradually upwards from the 

 outer edge of the scrub, where it reaches the ground. The soil is of the 

 driest character, and in several places completely undermined by burrowing 

 shearwaters. On Meyer Island one colony of birds succeeds another, so 

 that the soil never has a rest. 



On the east coast of Sunday Island a belt of ngaio scrub extends from 

 the rocky shore back for several metres to the base of the cliffs, or, in Coral 

 Bay, to the forest proper, which begins at 10-15 m. from the shingle beach. 

 The effect of the easterly winds on this belt is most pronounced in Coral 

 Bay, The Myoporum forms a close, compact mass, beginning with plants 

 appearing among the rocks and only a few centimetres tall, and gradually 

 getting higher towards the forest, where the adjoining Mrtrosideros trees 

 have the wind-shorn habit of the Myoporum. At 10 m. from the shingle 

 the average height would be about 1-5 m. All twigs appearing above the 

 general level of the foliage are killed by the wind. Intermixed among the 

 Myoporum are Macropiper excelsunt major, Pteris comans, Carex Forsteri 

 insularis, Sicyos australis, and Canavalia obtusifolia. The scrub in Coral 

 Bay extends to the limits of vegetation along the shore, so that no line can 

 be drawn between it and rock vegetation. 



The western Terrace is covered with ngaio scrub, which increases in 

 height from the top of the sea-cliffs towards the base of the higher cHffs 

 5*— Trans. 



