30 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 
There are about 40 shrubs, of which 12 are more or less prostrate 
in habit. Most are of the ordinary bushy-shrub form. A quite 
remarkable shrub is the shrubby pohuehue (Muehlenbeckia Astoni), 
which is of the divaricating form, and builds on stony shores irregular 
rounded masses 4 feet or more in height (fig. 15). All this would 
be nothing were it not that the genus consists otherwise of climb- 
ing or creeping species, and that the lane-like main stems of this 
plant betray its relationship to its climbing relatives. One of these. 
however, the pohuehue (M. complexa), when it occurs near the shore, 
frequently assumes the cushion form (fig. 16). MM. Astoni so far has 
been noted only from near Cape Turakirae (Wellington) and one or 
two places in Marlborough—e.g., near the mouth of the Flaxbourne 
Stream and in the lower portion of the Awatere Valley. 
The only lane to be mentioned is the Australian gourd (Sicyos 
australis), a plant not unlike the vegetable-marrow, but now quite 
rare except on the small islands to the north-east of Auckland. 
There are about 109 herbs and semi-woody plants, which belong 
to the various growth-forms common to such plants. Regarding the 
leaves of these, 75 species have small or very small leaves, and in 
74 species they are succulent, thick, or leathery. 
The coastal plant-formations are of a diverse character, and 
consist of a great many plant-associations. The most important 
communities are: Seaweed associations, shore vegetation, dune 
vegetation, rock associations, salt-swamp, salt- meadow, coastal 
scrub, and coastal forest. 
Where rocks jut out into the sea, forming pools, there the 
beautiful red seaweeds have their home; but where the sea dashes 
with fury, the huge brown ones are found in abundance. As two 
of these are so frequently cast up on the shore, they, at any rate, 
must be known to most who are acquainted with the seaside. 
The one (Macrocystis pyrifera) grows to an immense size, and its 
“leaves” float upon the surface of the sea by means of their small 
bladders full of air, while, dozens of feet below, the cord-like stems 
are anchored firmly to the rocky floor of the ocean. The other, 
the bull-kelp (Durvillaea utilis), is found in rougher water, its long 
strap-like “ leaves ’’ showing, when cut into, a honeycomb-like struc- 
ture, while the main “trunk” is solid. Durvillaea gets its name 
from Dumont D’Urville, mentioned in Chapter I. By the Stewart 
Island Maoris the “ leaves” of the bull-kelp are made into bags for 
holding the preserved mutton-birds. 
