334 Transactions. 



of Norfolk 'Island has succulent drupes, and Sicyos has barbed 

 -fruits. 



The endemic element is not nearly so evidently coastal as 

 the foreign. Many of the species are ecologically just as much 

 alpine as maritime plants, and look, indeed, quite out of place 

 on the sea-shore to one acquainted with our alpine vegetation. 

 The endemic Scirpus f rondos us is interesting as belonging to 

 an endemic section of the genus, while ecologically it is highly 

 specialised as a sand-binding plant, which characteristic was 

 developed in the absence of grazing animals ; and so, notwdth- 

 standing its coriaceous texture, it is frequently damaged by 

 those which have been introduced by settlement. 



The distribution of the South American element is of some 

 interest, since it shows that so far as the coastal plants are 

 concerned those of subantarctic origin are not confined by them- 

 selves to any part of the coast. Of the thirteen species, ten occur 

 abundantly from the north of the North Island to the south 

 of the South Island. Crassnla moschata, most abundant and 

 luxuriant in the south, reaches, however, the north shore of 

 Cook Strait. There remain, then, as more or less specially 

 southern or south-western forms, only Carex trifida and Veronica 

 -dliptica, and these occur on the east also, at least as far north 

 as Dunedin. 



However, this special distribution by no means disproves 

 what has already been stated as to the struggle between the 

 ^' subtropical " and " subantarctic " elements, because, in the 

 first place, the coast is an unfavourable region for plant-life, 

 and, in the second, all the species except three are also Aus- 

 tralian, some having a wide range as well. And the above three 

 species, which are essentially southern in their distribution, are 

 purely subantarctic. 



15. Life Forms and Adaptations of the True Coastal 



Plants. 



Special details regarding the life forms of the coastal plants 

 proper are briefly given in the table towards the end of this 

 paper. Here a few general remarks are alone necessary. 



A considerable number of the plants are halophytes, and 

 these exhibit more or less the typical succulence of that 

 class. Many have the rush-like habit, and of these Leptocarpus 

 simplex has extremely stiff stems. Sand-binding plants — i.e., 

 those which rapidly grow at the extremities of their shoots 

 as they are being buried, rooting at the same time — are 

 present on the dunes, and exhibit the habit in various degress 

 of intensity. On the salt meadows are turf - forming plants 

 with crowded small leaves and far-creeping stems by which 



