378 NOTES ON THE BOTANY OF LORD HOWE ISLAND, V., 



excavate the plateau into shallow valleys, and then discharge in 

 waterfalls over tremendous cliffs. These liltle dells have a 

 beneficent effect on the vegetation, since the plants here escape 

 distortion and hedging by the wind, and grow in shelter to their 

 natural proportions, 



" Low trees about 20 feet in height, and shrubs, grow densely; 

 the ground is hidden by interlacing bowers, and progress through 

 them by stooping and crawling is sIoav and awkward. The tallest 

 tree is Dracophyllum {Fitzgeraldi) which reaches a maximum 

 height of 40 feet. Tree-ferns and palms, which are equally 

 abundant, overtop the level of the scrub. Whereas the palms of 

 the low lands are markedly gregarious, sometimes occupying 

 tracts to the exclusion of other plants, the mountain palms grow 

 here and there sporadically among the other trees. 



"Abundant moisture was a dominant expression of the flora. 

 ' Here are cool mosses deep,' though we cannot finish the Tenny- 

 sonian verse. Trunks, particularly of tree-ferns, appeared as 

 green columns, so clothed were they with moss or Hymeno- 

 jjhyllum. Epiphytes straggled evei-ywhere, and a large propor- 

 tion of trees threw out adventitious roots. Ferns grew luxu- 

 riantly, taking the place of herbs. Indeed, a Plantago {Hedleyi, 

 n.sp., J.H.M.) on the track, and a straggling large-leaved plant 

 Avith composite flower-heads in the axils (Elatostemma reticulatiim) 

 were almost the only herbs seen. 



" The lowland flora had, of course, almost disappeared, the 

 banyan ( Ficus columnaris) goes a short distance up the hill. The 

 last stunted Pandanus [Forsteri) was left about the 2,000 feet 

 zone. The Exocarpus {homodada) is one of the few species I 

 recognised as having an uninterrupted range from top to bottom. 

 But the coast-flora has representatives. A small orchid replaces 

 the beach-congener. A pepper grows taller, and has a larger, 

 rounder leaf. Wilson says the mountain ' kava ' has a red seed, 

 but the lowland one a yellow.'* [Fiper ejccelsiwi is the only known 

 kava). 



Specimens of the following plants were brought from the 

 summit of Mt. Gower : — Driniys Iloweana F.v.M.; Pittosporum 

 crioloma F.\'.M. lI' C. Moore: Dysoxylou pachyphyllum HemaX.; 



