III.— BOTANY. 



Art. XXIX. — On the Flora of the North Cape District. 



By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Curator of the Auckland 



Museum. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 5th October, 1896.] 



Plate XXIII. 



The extreme north of the Auckland Provincial District, in- 

 cluding in that term the North Cape peninsula and the long 

 and narrow strip connecting it with Ahipara and Mangonui, is 

 little known to the residents of Auckland. Nor is this at all 

 surprising. With the exception of one or two runholders, the 

 European population is confined to the diggers of kauri-gum 

 and the storekeepers who supply their wants ; there is little 

 or no farming, and practically no permanent settlement. 

 Roads and bridges are unknown, and the usual way of reach- 

 ing the district is by following the magnificent sandy beach 

 which curves from Ahipara northwards, almost reaching Cape 

 Maria van Diemen. Or the traveller may embark in a dimi- 

 nutive steam-tender that occasionally runs from Mangonui, 

 and which will land him, glad once more to stretch his limbs, 

 either at Ohora or in Parengarenga Harbour. In many 

 respects the district is uninviting. A large portion is more or 

 less covered by drifting sands ; another part, almost equally 

 extensive, is occupied with swamps, varied here and there 

 with shallow lakes. There are no forests worthy of the name; 

 the hills are not high enough to be called mountains, and are 

 mostly bare, barren, and desolate-looking. Its sole picturesque 

 features are the cliffs on the northern coast, with their little 

 bays and minor indentations, and the broad western beach, 

 stretching as far as the eye can reach, and lined from end to 

 end with row behind row of white foaming breakers. 



The first person to explore the district from a natural- 

 history point of view was tlie veteran botanist Mr. Colenso, 

 who in 1839 travelled from Kaitaia northwards to Cape Maria 

 van Diemen, and from thence to the Reinga, Spirits Bay, and 

 the North Cape. During the journey he collected several of 

 the plants peculiar to the district, notably Hibiscus diversi- 



