Cheeseman. — Notes on Pittosporuin obcordatuin. 435 



Art. XXXVII. — Notes on Pittosporuni obcordatum. 

 By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S. 



[liead be fori- the Auckla)id Institute, 3rcl October. ICOd.] 



In examining the flora of any country, considerable interest 

 always attaches to those species found living at distant and far- 

 separated points. It is true that the area of distribution of 

 most plants is more or less discontinuous, and that in nearly 

 all cases the localities where a particular species is plentiful 

 are separated by spaces more or less extensive where it is al- 

 together absent. But such instances are far removed from those 

 where the habitats are not only distinct and totally unconnected, 

 but are separated by expanses of hundreds of miles in extent. 

 New Zealand possesses several instances of this nature, all of 

 which deserve special study and inquiry. I do not propose to 

 give a catalogue of these plants here, but it may be useful to 

 mention some striking examples. 



Melicylus macrophyllus is a common tree in hilly forests 

 to the north of the Waikato River, but I have never seen or 

 heard of it in the central or southern portions of the North 

 Island, nor in the South Island, save in the one locality of 

 Waikari Creek, near Dunedin, where it Avas discovered by Mr. 

 G. M. Thomson many years ago. In this case there is an 

 apparent gap of nearly six hundred and fifty miles between the 

 north -^rn and southern localities. 



Drosera piigmcea was originally collected by Colenso near 

 Cape Maria van Diemen, in the North Cape district, and has 

 since been found by myself at Parengareiiga, and by Matthews 

 and Carse at Ahipara, in the same district. In 1877 Mr. T. 

 Kirk found the same plant on the BhifE Hill, in the extreme 

 south of the South Island, a station separated from those pre- 

 viously cited by almost the whole length of the colony. 



Uriica australis, first discovered in the Auckland Islands 

 by Sir J. D. Hooker, has since been gathered on Ste^vart Island 

 and the Chatham Islands, and is said to have been collected 

 by Bidwill on the north side of Cook Strait, near Wellington. 



Danthonia hromoides, a species foimded on specimens col- 

 lected by Mr. Stephenson on cliffs in Cook Strait, appears again 

 on the sea-coast to the north of Whangarei and the Bay of Islands, 

 but in no intarmediate locahty. And, in addition, it is con- 

 sidered by Hooker to be identical with a grass common in the 

 Auckland and Campbell Islands, quite at the other end of the 

 colonv. 



