204 SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. [Ecohxiiad Butanij. 



The divaricatingly branched shrubs have usually seedlings of a much more 

 hygroph_)i;ic character than the adult. Suttonia divaricnta is a case to the contrary, 

 it being so frequently a plant of moist forests ; and yet its seedling is of the adult 

 type, and cannot be modified by moist-air culture. The endemic Coprosma ciliata, 

 on the other hand, when in sheltered situations, may put forth reversion shoots 

 with thinner, broader, and more strongly ciliated leaves than those of the adult.* 



(H.) PERSLSTENT DEAD LEAVES. 



The peat-nuiking habit has been already referred to as one of tlie most common 

 characteristics of the subantarctic climate. Did the vegetative parts of the plants 

 merely turn into peat this feature could hardly be called ecological, but the peaty 

 remains persist attached to the plants, and play a more or less important ecological 

 part. Thus, it has already been shown how the peat of the cushion plants becomes a 

 water-storage apparatus, and this is especially advantageous for the cushion -building 

 bryophytes. The " trunk " of the tussock plants raises them from the wet ground 

 or swamp, and catches pure water free from humous acids. Even round a living 

 stem the dead and decaying leaves form a covering of surprising size. Thus, Celmisia 

 vernicosa, a rosette 5 cm. tall, had its stem beneath covered for 4 cm. with a thick 

 decaying mass of leaves. The leaf-sheaths of PleurophfiUum Hookeri are more than 

 equalled in bulk by the dead, rotting sheaths of previous years. 



(I.) SEASONAL CHANGES. 



The seasonal changes are of a twofold character, concerning on the one hand 

 the vegetative and on the other the reproductive parts. So far as the former go, 

 little can yet be said. On the appearing and opening of buds, the fall of leaves, 

 the growing of new shoots, &c., virtually no information is available. Generally 

 speaking, as the forest and scrub are evergreen, the winter aspect is much the same 

 as the summer ; even the ferns still retain their leaves, excepting Histiopteris incisa, 

 whose dead and half-dead fronds mark its presence. But in the Pleurophyllum 

 meadow and the highest zone of vegetation — indeed, everywhere where tussock does 

 not dominate — there is a good deal of difference in the winter, the great leaves of 

 Pleurophyllum crinifermn and Bulhinella Rossii being wanting, their place only 

 marked by the rotting leaves on the ground. On the meadow of Antipodes Island 

 the tender green of the two ferns Hi/polepis millefolium and Histiopteris incisa will 

 be absent, and on the stony debris of the Auckland Island hills the leaves of 

 Polystichum cystoterjia. 



At about the middle of November the herbaceous plants of the Auckland Islands 

 are just coming into bloom. On the 21st November the following were noted : — 



Numerous blooms : Celmisia vernicosa. Ranunculus pinguis, R. aucMandicus, 

 Veronica Benthami, Phyllaclme clavigera, Myosotis capitata. 



Occasional blooms : Aciphylla latifolia, A. antipoda, Bulhinella Rossii, Stil- 

 bocarpa polaris, Epilobium confertifolium, Poa litorosa, P. foliosa, P. ramosissima, 

 Astelia linearis, A. suhulata, Acaena Sanguisorbae var. antarctica, DantJionia antarc- 

 tica, HierocJdoe Brunonis, Cotula plumosa, C. propinqua, C. lanata, Pleurophyllum 



* Cockayne, " Botanical Excursion," p. 276. 



