'324 Trowidctioris. 



Island was killed outright. Finally, so far sonth as Dunedin, 

 the kanri is bv no means difficult to cultivate.* Metrosideros 

 tomeiitosa, the pohutukawa, is the characteristic tree of certain 

 coastal rock formations of the northern part of New Zealand, 

 and has much the same distribution as the kauri (33 ; p. 238), 

 yet, without any apparent reason, it also does not extend beyond 

 a certain latitude, although it is perfectly hardy near the shores 

 of Cook Strait, being a frequent plant of gardens in Wellington 

 and elsewhere. Cory nocar pus Irevigata, the karaka, a plant 

 probably more susceptible to frost than either of the above, 

 occurs spontaneously as far south as Banks Peiiinsula, about 

 lat. 44°, but further does not go, although quite hardy on the 

 Otago Peuinsula, and doubtless easily able to grow on any part 

 of the west coast. Pittosporum crassifoUum, another coastal 

 tree of the kauri region, is perfectly hardv in the Christchurch 

 Domain, and yearly produces abundance of fertile seeds, which 

 germinate on the soil beneath the tree ; indeed, there is no 

 reason to doubt that this plant could hold its own, so far as 

 climate is concerned, in any part of the whole New Zealand 

 forest region. Many other examples could be cited, but these 

 will suffice. 



Now, in all the above and similar cases it may be argued 

 that an abnormally severe frost, such as occurs at times, would 

 damage these trees to so great an extent that they would not be 

 able to cope with the more hardy indigenous vegetation. Doubt- 

 less this is in part true Such frosts do occur. Leaving out of 

 the question the doubtful record of - 25"5° C.f in Central Otago 

 in the winter of 1903, there is no question that the cold then 

 was exceptionally severe. T. W. Adams reports (1 ; p. 288) 

 how " the exceptionally severe winter of 1899 " killed at Green- 

 dale, on the Canterbury Plain, the introduced Eucalyptus qlo- 

 hulus, 70 ft. high and nearly 3 ft. in diameter, and how Lepto- 

 spermum scnparium and Cordyline aiistraUs were also killed. 

 But at the same time it must be pointed out that many groves 

 of Cordyline on the Malvern Hills and on the foothills of the 

 Southern Alps, and much Leptospermum in the same localities at a 

 much higher elevation than Greendale, and probably exposed to 

 a lower temperature, were not damaged at all. Further, it is a 

 well-known fact, to which others and myself have drawn atten- 

 tion, that certain New Zealand plants exist at the very limit 

 of their frost-enduring capacity (see Rutland, 39 ; and Cock- 

 ayne, 10). But another class of facts opens up a different 



* T. W. Adams calls attention to this matter of the kauri (see 1 ; 

 p. '286). 



t Report of Department of Lands and Survey, New Zealand, 1904. 



