80 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 
rocks, dripping with water, are frequently draped with the New 
Zealand calceolaria (Jovellana Sinclairii), its pretty flowers white 
spotted with purple; with it may be wide breadths of the pleasing 
“ everlastings,’ Gnaphalium subrigidum or G. keriense. On wet rocks 
in Westland the creeping New Zealand calceolaria (Jovellana repens) 
is often present, accompanied by WNeriera depressa, conspicuous 
through its red “ berries,’ and Gunnera albocarpa. On limestone 
rocks in North Canterbury is the common maidenhair (Adiantum 
affine), the lime-spleenwort (Asplenium obtusatum var. anomodon), the 
anise (Angelica montana), the mountain-akeake (Olearia avicenniae- 
folia), and the yellow-flowered leafless clematis (Clematis afoliata). 
The exquisite scenery of the Wanganui River owes its special 
charm to the plant-covering of its soft papa (calcareous mudstone) 
rocks. Above the perpendicular or, it may be, sloping cliffs is the 
low forest of tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa); beneath this there may be 
a belt of shrubs, and beneath this again masses of the pale-green, 
drooping, flat, grass-like leaves, more than a yard in length, of 
Cladium Sinclairvi ; and with this, but dominating the scene, great 
breadths of the huge pinnate leaves, some up to 10 feet in length, 
of the long hard-fern (Blechnum capense), each leaf spread out to 
its full clear of its neighbours—the whole forming a perfect mosaic. 
Where especially wet and shaded, pure yellowish-green or glistening 
bronze colonies of the parataniwha (Hlatostema rugosum) add a special 
charm to the scene. Nearer the base of the cliff there will be an 
abundance of Gnaphalium keriense mixed with the pretty Veronica 
catarractae, and beneath this stunted maidenhair fern (Adiantum 
affine). As the river is descended, the elegant Huphrasia cuneata 
enters the association, and where the rock is wet a groundsel, 
Senecio latifolius, with its showy yellow heads of blossom. Such 
banks of Blechnum capense as the above are characteristic of New 
Zealand generally, and are not confined to rock, their presence 
being rather determined by excess of moisture (fig. 47). So, ‘too, 
is it with the parataniwha (Hlatostema rugosum) (fig. 48). 
Amongst the most prized of New Zealand plants for garden 
purposes are the rock tree-daisy (Olearia insignis) and the New 
Zealand lilac (Veronica Hulkeana), a most floriferous plant with soft 
lilac flowers; but few would guess that two plants so dissimilar 
grew side by side on dry rock! Both shrubs have been illustrated 
more than once, and described many times in the English gardening 
