TowNSON. — On Vegetation of Westport District. 387 



Many gullies seam the face of Mount Rochiort, and in one of 

 them runs Giles's Creek, which supplies the Town of Westport 

 with excellent water. This joins with other creeks running in 

 adjoining gullies to form the Orowaiti River, which enters the 

 sea a couple of miles from the town. In Giles's Creek I found 

 Gna-phalium subrigidum and Baoulia tenuicaulis growing on the 

 shingly bed of the stream, whilst Lindsaya viridis and Tricho- 

 manes elongatum, though rare, may be found draping the face 

 of the papa cliffs in dark and sheltered situations. Lomaria 

 frazeri grows luxuriantly in all these gullies, and Dicksonia 

 squarrosa js abundant. Fagus forms the greatest proportion 

 of the timber in that locality, and I have seen trees fairly ablaze 

 with the scarlet flowers of Elytranthe tetrapetala in the early 

 summer. 



On climbing out of the gully on to the high-level terrace, 

 where in days gone by good gold was found, numerous bare 

 patches are seen on the mountain-face where fires have burned 

 off the scrub, leaving little else to clothe the surface than Hypo- 

 Icena lateralis, Gleichenia dicarpa, and G. circinata, with a few 

 gentians and orchids. 



Mount Rochfort was one of my favourite hunting-grounds, 

 and many interesting plants were found on its spurs. In the 

 forest at an elevation of from 1,000 ft. to 2,500 ft. grows the 

 rarest of our ratas — viz., Metrosideros parkinsonii. It forms 

 a very conspicuous object with its brilliant crimson flowers, 

 which grow in clusters on the branches, which are often bare 

 of leaves. At times it is a straggling shrub, and at others a 

 small tree ; and I have noticed that nearly every specimen is 

 affected with a blight which blackens and pits the leaves. I 

 have also found it growing about 200 ft. above sea-levei ' at 

 Caroline Terrace, and it is thinly distributed through the forests 

 clothing the Paparoa Mountains. On the mountain pakihis 

 numerous orchids are to be found, the most noticeable being 

 Thelymitra pachyphylla, with its flowers variously coloured 

 from a beautiful dark-blue to purple, and again shading from 

 delicate pink to a pale creamy-white ; the curious Calochilus 

 paludosus ; Pterostylis banksii ; and here and there under shelter 

 of the mountain-flax the rare Pterostylis venosa ; whilst in the 

 higher regions Prasophyllmn colensoi, Lyperanthus antarcticus, 

 Caladenia minor, and C. bifolia are plentiful. Gastrodia cun- 

 ninghamii and Microtis porrifolia are also fairly abundant. 

 In these open situations Actinotus novce-zealandiw, another 

 very interesting plant, grows freely amongst the locks on the 

 drier part of the paldhi, and is seldom found at a lower elevation 

 than 1,500 ft. In the subalpine bogs the delicate purple flowers 

 of Utricularia monanthos are not uncommon, often associated 



