320 Transactions. 



coastal vegetation, the first-named dotting stable dunes or 

 grassy hillsides, the second forming long belts just above high- 

 water mark, or in the case of P. cookianum especially beauti- 

 fying barren clifis, and the tussocks occurring in many situations 

 and under various conditions. But the above are not specially 

 coastal plants, and it is the coastal formations proper whicli 

 supply the peculiar features. Walking along a sandy shore 

 the only plant which may be seen for miles is Scirpus frondosus, 

 with its tufted, stiff leaves especially conspicuous through their 

 yellow colour. Further from the shore, however, as the dunes 

 become more stable, are here and there the curious low-gro\\ang 

 bushes of Coprosma acerosa arenaria, with their interlacing 

 extremely wiry stems of a distinct reddish-yellow colour, and 

 associated with them the more upright-growing but also yellow 

 Cassinia fulvida. Further from the sea still may be a dark- 

 coloured heath of Leptospenmim scoparium, relieved, however; 

 bv huge tussocks of green Arundo conspicua, with its straw- 

 coloured plumes in summer. 



Tidal rivers, shores of estuaries, and salt meadows are dis- 

 tinguished by lines, groups, or thickets of the roundish, black- 

 coloured bushes of Plagianthus divaricatus, while the floor of 

 the meadow owes its green turf to a number of close-growing 

 herbaceous plants furnished with far-creeping stems. 



Generally speaking the appearance of the coast is desolate 

 enough, but in the wettest regions this is not the case, for here 

 it is not coastal plants adapted for peculiar and severe con- 

 ditions which dominate, but the luxuriant rain-forest. This, 

 although black in the distance, becomes much more pleasing at 

 a closer view, when its varied greens are evident, and glimpses 

 of tree-ferns appear through the foliage. Here, however, as 

 pointed out before, is frequently a protecting hedge of closely 

 packed tall shrubs, and of these Olearia operina, with its toothed 

 lanceolate leaves white with dense tomentum on their under - 

 surface, Senecio rotundifolius with its large, round, leathery leaves,, 

 and the tender-green Veronica elliptica, give a distinct character 

 to this exterior vegetation. This is sometimes varied by the 

 presence of large quantities of Freycinetia hanksii, and with 

 this liane creeping right out on to the shore in stiff tangled 

 masses the scene becomes distinctly tropical in aspect. Nor 

 is this tropical character much changed when the long line of 

 Phormium fringes the shore ; where, too, in north-west Nelson, 

 the beautiful palm Rhopalostylis sapida raises its huge feathery 

 leaves above the other and frequently wind-shorn foliage ; or 

 where, in north and east Marlborough, the great glossy leaves 

 of Griselinia lucida crown some rocky point. 



Quite different from the above is the steppe character, where 



