272 THE PLANT WORLD 



species of Gy uuios poran giiim by reporting the fact to the 

 writer. 



Lincoln, Neb. 



BOTANICAL SURVEYS IN NEW ZEALAND. 



By Forrest Shreve. 



Two noteworthy papers, the first a report on a botani- 

 cal survey of the Waipoua Kauri forest, by L. Cockayne, and 

 the second on a botanical survey of the Tongariro National 

 Park, by the same author, have been issued by the New Zea- 

 land Department of Lands.* 



The Waipoua Forest lies in the extreme north of the 

 North Island of New Zealand at 700 to 1300 feet altitude, 

 and is of considerable economic importance because of the 

 abundance in it of the gum-bearing coniferous tree. Kauri 

 {Agalhis cms trails). The gum of the Kauri, the copal of 

 commerce, is derived both from the living trees and from 

 the buried remains of the fallen and fossil individuals. The 

 forest is sub-tropical in character, lying as it does at low eleva- 

 tions in a region of high precipitation where the temperature 

 never drops below 2 to 6 degrees of frost. The Kauri is 

 the largest tree of the forest, towering above the relatively 

 level canopy formed by the other species, but it is not the 

 most abundant of the forest trees. The composition of the 

 forest is varied from spot to spot without relation to en- 

 vironmental factors, and it is also varied as respects the un- 

 dergrowth and the lianes and epiphytes. Among the 

 commonest trees are species of Podocarpiis, Dacrydiiim, 

 Weinmcumhi, BcUschuuedia and Metrosideros, and the sub- 

 tropical element embraces palms, screw-pines, tree-ferns and 

 filmy ferns. Certain groups of trees and shrubs accompany 

 each of the principal forest trees in the localities where they 

 are dominant, thus forming sub-associations within the forest; 

 and the swamps which border the Waipoua river bear a veg- 



* Report on a Botanical Survey of the Waipoua Kauri Forest, and 

 Report on :i lidtanK-al Suivey of the Tongariro National Park, by L. 

 Cockayne. New Zealand Department of I^ands, 1908. 



