70 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 
tree, but the divaricating form persists in its lower part. The 
juvenile and adult of such a tree may both bloom at the same time. 
Such flowering has not been observed in the cases of the narrow- 
leaved lacebark (Hoheria angustifolia) and the lowland ribbonwood 
(Plagianthus betulinus), though both pass through a juvenile form 
almost identical with that of Pennantia; but, on the other hand, 
juvenile Hoheria sexstylosa flowers when three or four years old. 
If any of the above species remained at the juvenile stage it would 
be in the same category as any 
ordinary divaricating shrub ; also, 
it would be quite as distinct a 
species as the plant of which 
it was once a part. This phe- 
SA 
d nomenon actually does happen in 
the genus Sophora, the species of 
which are known as “ kowhai.” 
2 The common kowhai (Sophora 
¢ / microphylla), when young and for 
many years afterwards, is a di- : 
varicating shrub, but it has not 
been observed to bloom at that 7 
is C stage (fig. 8). However, in the | 
montane belt of Marlborough and 
‘ ¢ Canterbury there is the prostrate 
kowhai (S. prostrata), which 
Juvenile and adult leaves of the pokaka 
(Elaeocarpus Hookerianus): a, adult almost exactly resembles the 
leaf; 6, transition between adult and juvenile divaricating form of 
juvenile leaf; c, d, narrow form of 1 an : 
juvenile leaf; e, f, g, obovate form of S. macrop hy ila, and, though it 
juvenile leaf. blooms and fruits freely, never 
Mee NA. Inet. | [L. C. de. becomes a tree. Now, in the 
East Cape Botanical District, the large-flowered kowhai (S. grandi- 
flora) has no divaricating juvenile form, but resembles that of 
the adult throughout its development. 
How strongly the effect of habitat may be impressed upon a 
plant can perhaps be seen in the case of the taupata (Coprosma 
retusa). This species when growing on coastal rocks is more or less 
flattened against the rock. This prostrate habit is reflected in the 
early prostrate shoots of the young shrub (fig. 41), but the later 
upright shoots show a transition towards its final tree form. Yet 
