TowNSON. — On Vegetation, of Westiort District. 381 



mountains forming part of the watershed of the Buller River — 

 viz., Mounts Owen, Murchison, and Mantell — I only had the 

 opportunity of exploring once ; and, considering their many spurs 

 and massive proportions, they would require at least a dozen 

 such visits to anything like exhaust their store of floral novelties. 

 Then, again, justice cannot possibly be done to a locality by a 

 summer visit only, as the spring-time has much tribute to offer, 

 and the autumn amongst the subalpine meadows is the season 

 par excellence for a profusion of flowers. From Westport the most 

 accessible mountain is Mount Rochfort, and consequently I have 

 climbed it nearly a score of times at various seasons of the year, 

 and on every occasion, with one exception, have come home 

 with some new acquisition, met with for the first time through a 

 change of route, or perhaps overlooked or missed on a previous 

 search. The whole surface must be covered before one can say 

 with any certainty that a particular plant does not grow in the 

 district. For example, I chanced on a narrow shingle-slide on 

 the eastern side of the peak of Mount Buckland, and there 

 discovered Ranunculus lyallii blooming ; and, so far as I know, 

 that is the only locality in the Westport district where it can be 

 found. On Caroline Terrace I came upon a small patch of 

 Pelargonium australe, and never met with it subsequently. On a 

 rocky spur of Mount Lyell I gathered a peculiar variety of 

 Acipkylla lyallii, and on no other part of the mountain could 

 I afterwards meet with it. Again, in a small patch of pakihi 

 forest I discovered Corysanthes cheesemanii growing amongst the 

 Fagus roots, and on the margin of the same forest Pterostylis 

 puberula flourished under shelter of the fern ; and, search as 

 I would, I never found them elsewhere. Many plants are so 

 local in their distribution, and others so easily missed, that I 

 consider it safer to say that I have not found them than that 

 they do not grow in the district. 



In a botanical sense the Westjjort district was almost a terra 

 incognita, as no systematic botanical work had ever been under- 

 taken in it. Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, wdien working up his " Flora of 

 the Nelson District," explored the Upper Buller Valley and Lake 

 Rotoiti, but approached the coast no closer than Longford, near 

 Murchison. The Rev. F. H. Spencer climbed Mount Rochfort 

 and discovered a new species of gentian, named by Mr. Kirk 

 Gentiana spenceri, and he also collected some plants at Mokihinui. 

 Dr. Gaze some years ago made a small collection of plants in the 

 district around Westport, but made no additions to the West 

 Coast flora. Thus it will be seen that I had a large area of virgin 

 country to explore, with every opportunity for making discoveries 

 of interest, both in regard to finding novelties and of determinnig 

 the range of known species. How far my efforts were crowned 



