328 Transactions. 



paiiied by the beaiatiful Veronica hulkeana. Celmisia lindsayi 

 occurs only on rocky faces and stony debris in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Nuggets and Catlin's River, south-east Otago.* 

 This is a remarkably easy species to cultivate. The thickets 

 of Olearia operina are found only at the West Coast Sound,-?, and 

 the closely allied 0. anqusti folia, so far as its South Island distri- 

 bution is concerned, has been recorded from onl^ one locality, 

 the base of the Bluff Hill, Foveaux Strait, although it is an 

 abundant plant on some parts of the coast of Stewart Island 

 and the neighbouring small islets. Capsella procumhens, one of 

 Petrie's numerous discoveries, has been recorded only from 

 Oamaru. Lepidium hanksii occurs only on the southern shores 

 of Cook Strait. Stilhocarpa lyallii, a common plant of Stewart 

 Island and of some 'of the islands adjacent, is found, according 

 to Kirk, onlv in tlie South Island in the \icinitv of Preservation 

 Inlet. 



9. PuiMITIVE AND MoDIFIKD FORMATIONS. 



The coastal plant formations of settled districts are usually 

 in a much more primitive condition than are those of the adja- 

 cent lowlands. The nature of the soil, and its possession in 

 some instances of more salt than is beneficial for the majority 

 of plants, has had the effect of keeping away the rank and file 

 of the invading host of foreign plants which now form such a 

 marked feature in many districts in New Zealand. Certain 

 parts of the coast, especially in the west, are far removed from 

 the inroads of domestic animals, and there the plant covering is 

 truly primeval. On the other hand, certain formations, which 

 at first sight appear primitive, on a closer examiiiation prove 

 to have been modified considerably by fires, drainage, grazing 

 animals, and introduced plants. For instance, the majority of 

 dunes at the present time are certai]ily much more unstable 

 than they were originally, their great protector, Scirpus jron- 

 dosus, being eaten by rabbits and other animals. f Also, these 

 dunes, inhospitable as they appear, are not seldom thickly 

 occupied by introduced plants, which have quite overcome the 

 original plant inhabitants. A very striking case is that of 

 Lupinus nrboreus, introduced in the first instance as a sand- 

 binding plant, but which now forms dense thickets in all parts 

 of many dunes except the most unstable. Also, Ulex e/uro- 

 pcBUS and Sarothamnus scoparius, planted originally as hedge 

 plants, occupy wide areas and frequently struggle with each 

 other and with the tree-lupin for the supremacy. In some places 

 tlie forest which came to near high-water mark has been cut 



* Itegaruing the occurrence of this plant inland see Cockayne (14c). 

 t See, for instance, F. Truby King (28). 



