OLEARIA INSIGNIS ROCK-ASSOCIATION. 81 
papers. With them there may also occur two other plants admir- 
ably suited for gardens—the rock shrub-groundsel (Senecio Monroi) 
and a truly charming bell-flower (Wahlenbergia Matthewsii) with 
large pale-llac flowers, this latter not yet introduced into cultivation. 
Olearia insignis is a low-growing, straggling shrub with stout 
branches which in their younger parts are covered with a mat of 
buff-coloured hairs. The leaves are extremely thick and fleshy ; 
they are bright-green above, but beneath are covered densely with 
a thick mat of whitish hairs. Hach leaf is 4 to 6 inches long, and 
the leaves are arranged in rosettes at the ends of the otherwise 
leafless branches. These latter are always bent so as to bring the 
rosettes into as much light as possible. The large, hemispherical 
flower-head is 2 to 3 inches through, and covered with many scales, 
hairy as leaf and stem. The outer little flowers of the head are 
very numerous, and white in colour, but the inner ones are yellow. 
The form and structure of the plant is in harmony with its dry, 
rocky home—z.e., it is specially adapted to tolerate drought. The 
flower-head differs in important characters from that of any other 
Olearia, and probably a genus should be constituted in which to 
place this truly remarkable and most handsome plant. Veronica 
Hulkeana is too common ,as a garden-plant to need any special 
description, but it may be pointed out that the species is an aggre- 
gate, containing a number of different races quite distinct for garden 
purposes. 
The other members of this association are: The mountain-flax 
(Phormium Colensoi), but only where the rocks are shaded; the 
nao (Linum monogynum), an elegant plant with fine white delicate 
flowers, which is a real flax or linseed, very common on the coast ; 
the anise (Angelica montana); the tutu (Coriaria sarmentosa); the 
leafless clematis (Clematis afoliata) ; a variety of the common aniso- 
tome (Anisotome aromatica); and the rock cotton-plant (Celmisia 
Monro); but rarely are all present in any one place. The associa- 
tion is not purely lowland, but ascends to about 3,000 feet; it also 
occurs, but considerably modified, on the actual coast. 
The rocks of Banks Peninsula have a distinct vegetation of their 
own. Its fullest development is on rocky faces with a southern 
aspect. The association is distinguished by the presence of the lovely 
Veronica Lavaudiana, a small shrub—confined to the peninsula— 
of rather straggling habit, with beautiful substantial dark-green 
6— Plants. 
