Spiuout, Cockayne, Laino. — Mnunt Arroirmiilfli nixtnef. 351 



The subslirubs are : Evergreen, 9 ; summer - (jrecn, 3. The following 

 growth-forms are represented : Creeping {rooting), 11, comprising turf- 

 making 2 and leafless 1 ; erect, 1. 



The herbs are : Evergreen, 72 ; summer-green, 4:. The growth-forms 

 are represented by — annuals and hiennials, 4, made up of erect and branch- 

 ing, 3 ; rosette, 1 : and perennials, 68, of which 4 are summer-green, made 

 up of the following growth-forms — tussock, 6 : tufted grass, 12 ; creeping 

 and rooting, 24, of which 7 are turf-formers : rosette, 18, 2 of which are of 

 the Yucca form ; prostrate not rooting, 3 ; cushion, 3, but some of the creep- 

 ing may assume this form ; erect and branching, 2. 



If the leaves of all the plants are considered it will be found that those 

 of 47 species are very small, 14 have margins incurved or recurved, and 4 

 are leafless. Larger leaves are frequently stiff, thick or coriaceous, or flat- 

 tened to the ground as rosettes. The number of glabrous leaves (70) is 

 larger than might be expected, but these are frequently more or less cori- 

 aceous ; tomentose leaves number 13. 



Just as the steppe develops in connection with increasingly mesophytic 

 edaphic conditions, so does the combination of growth-forms become gradu- 

 ally more mesophytic. But the freely developed steppe itself provides an 

 altogether different environment to the unoccupied wind-swept ground, and 

 it is the taller members of the formation alone {tussock-grass. Yucca form, 

 xeromorphic shrubs) or the plants of special stony wind-swept ground {dwarf 

 leafless flat-stemmed shrubs, leafless summer-green subshrub, cushion and patch 

 plants, turf-making creeping herbs) that are exposed to severe conditions. 

 Tall plants without very special adaptations cannot establish themselves, 

 and about 80 per cent, of the florula consists of dwarf plants, mostly pro- 

 strate or creeping, which grow under conditions of considerable shelter. 



*** Physiognomy. 



The tussock steppe of the Arrowsmith district is no longer a virgin 

 formation. Burning and overstocking have brought about a more xero- 

 phytic environment, and, although probably all the original species are 

 present, their relative proportion is much changed, the originally dominant 

 tussock having decreased together with the mesophytic grasses and herbs 

 which grew in its shelter, while various xeromorphs (species of Raoulia, 

 tomentose rosette plants, &c.) have increased and certain introduced plants 

 have gained a footing. 



Seen from a distance, tussock steppe appears as a smooth brown carpet 

 on the dimpled hillside. A closer view dispels the illusion and reveals the 

 bunched-up grass culms and leaves, close together at the round base of 

 the tussock but spreading above and mostly dead at the apices, growing side 

 by side, each some 40 cm. tall, in some places their leaves intermingling, and 

 in others distant and with partially covered and more or less eroded ground 

 between the clumps. Here and there stand above the tussock low dark- 

 coloured bushes of Discaria toumatou. On the ground between the tussocks 

 there are the creeping plants forming mats — glaucous of Acaena Sanguisorbae 

 var. pilosa, reddish of A. inermis, brown of Styphelia Fraseri, pale whitish- 

 green of Raoulia subsericea, green of Brachycome Sinclairii — orange-coloured 

 small cushions of Scleranthus biflorus and great green semi-cushions or high 

 circular mats of Celmisia spectabilis, rosettes flattened to the ground of 

 Senecio bellidioides (dark green and hairy), Craspedia uniflora var. (whitish 

 or greyish-green), the small round leaves of Hydrocotyle novae-zealandiae 

 flattened to the ground, and round patches of Mriehlenheckia axillaris its 



