COASTAL SHRUBBERIES. 4] 
seed-plants, ferns, and fern-allies live on the small island. Every stage 
of plant-colonization can be seen, from the occupation of the rock 
by mosses, lichens, liverworts, and filmy ferns to actual forest—but 
this does not get established until humus has collected in sufficient 
quantity to act as a water-reservoir. Two astelias, the shore- 
kowharawhara (Astelia Banksw) and the kowharawhara (A. Cun- 
ninghami var. Hookervana), are abundant. ‘These are well enough 
suited to the surroundings. So, too, is the puka (Griselinia lucida), 
usually a perching-plant. But hardly so suited to its position is a 
rain-forest shrub, such as the hangehange (Geniostoma ligustrifolium) 
or the two coprosmas—the glossy karamu (C. robusta) and the 
karamu (C. lucida). These and other shrubs or stunted trees (e.g., 
the pohutukawa) have had their plasticity called into play, and so 
developed thick leaves, which are less lable to be damaged by 
drought, containing as they do an extra supply of water. 
The beautiful inlets of Stewart Island derive their charm in large 
measure from the assemblage of trees and shrubs along the water’s 
edge, especially when the southern rata (Metrosideros lucida), its 
boughs almost dipping into the water, has burst into flaming 
crimson. In similar situations the imaka + (Dracophyllum  longi- 
folium) and the mountain-flax (Phormiwm Colensoi) are common. 
Where the coastal scrub of Stewart Island is densest it has 
received the name of “ mutton-bird scrub.” This consists largely 
of the puheretaiko (Senecio rotundifolius), a very fine shrubby 
sroundsel, which makes an excellent garden-plant even as far 
north as Auckland. The leaf is frequently 4 inches or more in 
diameter, and covered so closely with a mat of buff-coloured hairs 
on the under-surface that it can be written upon. The leaf may 
thus be made to serve as a post-card, which can be posted at the 
most southerly post-office in Australasia—that on the Isle of Ulva, 
in Paterson Inlet. 
In the West Coast Sounds this groundsel forms thickets, associated 
with some other shrubs, of which the principal are the charming 
Olearia operina, the shore-koromiko (Veronica elliptica), and the 
common koromiko (V. salicifolia). A close relation of O. operina, 
the teteaweka (O. angustifolia) (fig. 22), occurs in Stewart Island, 
and has flower-heads 2 inches or so in diameter, with violet 
centres. There are also a few plants at the base of the Bluff Hill. 
These latter, unfortunately, are badly attacked by an indigenous 
