186 SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NKW ZEALAND. [Ecoloijiad Boliuiij. 



and the second an edaphic jjhysiognomy. Thus, in the AucMand Islands the wide- 

 spread distribution of Metrosideros lucida and Danthonia antarcticn is climatic, while 

 that of the large-leaved plants, or of Marsippospermum gracile, treated of further 

 on, is edaphic. 



It is not easy to draw the line as to what is of physiognomic importance. Here 

 the treatment is brief, and plants are omitted which perhaps should have received 

 mention, but in such cases these are dealt with under other heads. 



One point must be especially noted — namely, that, with few exceptions, the 

 physiognomic plants are endemic. The following are the plants treated of : 

 Metrosideros lucida {Mi/rtdceae) ; Danthonia antarctica, Pea litorosa (Gramineae) ; 

 the three species of PleurophyUiim, Celmisia vernicosa {Compositae) ; Bulhinella 

 Rossii [Liliaceae) ; the two species of Aciphi/lla {UiuheUi ferae) ; Sfilbocarpa 

 polaris (Araliaceae) ; SuUonia divaricata [Myrsinaceae) ; Draeophijllum sps. {Epacri- 

 daceae). 



Metrosideros lueida (southern rata, ironwood). — Although in New Zealand this 

 is usually an upright though irregularly shaped tree, 12 m. or so tall, in the sub- 

 antarctic province it has a more or less prostrate trunk, far-spreading, twisted hori- 

 zontal branches which finally branch vertically, and, through repeated branching, 

 form, with the leaves, dense rounded or flattened masses, looking dark-coloured in 

 the distance (fig. 2). The leaves are of the lanceolate type, taper at base and apex, 

 about 5 cm. by 2 cm. in size ; thick, stiff, coriaceous, bright glossy green on upper 

 but paler on under surface, and have a yellow midrib. The flowers are bright 

 crimson, very numerous, and arranged in short terminal cymes. 



Dantlionia antarctica is a tall tussock-grass, 110 cm. tall, more or less, and 85 cm. 

 in diameter at the base, made up of numerous stout leafy culms, and long, coriaceous, 

 thick, involute leaves of a rather pale- or yellowish-green colour, which taper into 

 long filiform points. Most frequently there is a short but massive and irregular 

 trunk. 



Poa litorosa is also a tussock-grass, which grows on taller and more cylindrical 

 trunks than the above, and is made up of numerous leafy culms, and long, rather 

 stiff, coriaceous, filiform, closely involute leaves of the steppe-grass character, 

 which, at first erect and bunched together, finally curve drooping on all sides 

 of the trunk in great shock-headed masses. The upper part of the trunk is 

 surrounded with a thick mantle of dead leaves and culms, which in its interior is 

 quite decayed (fig. 1). 



Pleurophyllum speciosum is a semi-summer-green herb of great size, having 4 or 

 5 blight-green, fleshy, coriaceous, ovate leaves, about 57 cm. long by 39 cm. broad, 

 given off from a short, stout rootstock, and which, pointing upwards, but much more 

 outwards, form either a wide cup or a rosette pressed almost to the ground (fig. 14). 

 On the under-surface of a leaf, at about 10 mm. apart, are more or less parallel, 

 stout, but rather brittle ribs which are connected by a network of raised, stout veins, 

 forming shallow lacunae in the deep furrows between the ridges, which are filled 

 with loosely entangled cobwebby hairs. The upper surface of the leaf above the 

 veins is sunken, and the intermediate parallel spaces are raised, giving a " corru- 

 gated " appearance to the leaf. The very stout flowering-stems, 80 cm. or more 

 tall, bear 15 heads, more or less, each about 5 cm. in diameter, having dark-pur |ile 

 disc and pale-purple ray-florets. The roots are stout, fleshy, and long. 



