108 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 
but only where the stones are very large, the result of quite recent 
disintegration. The cushions are even more woolly and sheep-like 
than those of Raoulia eximia. Probably H. pulvinaris may grow also 
upon actual rock, but it has not yet been recorded from such a habitat. 
Closely related to the shingle-slips, so far as the conditions for 
plant-life go, are the scoria-slopes of the volcanoes of the central 
plateau of the North Island. But on these the plant-life is still 
more scanty. Except Claytonia australasica, which, strange to say, 
is also a plant found in shallow running water, all the South Island 
shingle-slip plants are wanting. In their place is a true alpine gem, 
the scoria-koromiko (Veronica spathulata), which possesses a root 
of great length, small succulent leaves close to the cinders, and 
in summer is altogether covered with multitudes of snow-white 
flowers, which quite hide the foliage. Another koromiko of a 
rather more stable habitat is Veronica Hookeriana, a species allied 
to V. Lyall. Both these species are absent on Mount Egmont, 
but their place is occupied by a species of Hpilobium which is 
probably yet without a name. 
Turning now to the flora of debris and scoria-slopes, it consists 
of 33 species, belonging to 14 families and 18 genera. No fewer 
than 22 of these species are confined to their inhospitable home. 
The shingle-slips become more stable at their margins and where 
they are flatter; consequently species not specially adapted for the 
extreme conditions of existence which the shingle-slip offers are able 
to gain a footing, and these are the pioneers of that common plant- 
association—“ fell-field ”—of the eastern greywacke mountains of the 
South Island which gives the special character to much of their 
scenery. 
The name “‘ fell-field’’ is a combination of “ fell,’ which means 
a barren or stony hill, and “ field,” meaning a wide expanse. This 
name, chosen by Professor Percy Groom as a translation of the 
Danish “ fjeldmark,” fits admirably the New Zealand plant-forma- 
tion, for it is barren enough, the plants forming at best small 
colonies here and there with bare stony soil between, the whole 
extending for miles along the dry mountain-slopes. Frell-field occurs 
principally in the eastern mountains of the South Island beyond the 
average reach of the western rain. 
Amongst the growth-forms of the species are prostrate, creeping, 
and rooting shrubs; semi-woody plants and herbs; cushion-plants ; 
rosette-plants ; tussock-grasses ; and erect, stout-stemmed shrubs. 
