SUBANTARCTIC HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 133 
of the same family. One of these (P. criniferum) is a taller plant 
than P. speciosum, and has thinner, more erect leaves, which die to 
the ground in winter. The massive flower-stalk is 5 feet high, but 
the flower-heads are purplish-brown and not particularly showy 
(fig. 88). A third species (P. Hookert), with silvery leaves just tinged 
with green, dotting the upland meadows as far as the eye can reach, 
is a charming-enough sight. But how intensified is the beauty of 
the herb-field when there are present in large numbers, and also in 
full bloom, a fine yellow buttercup (Ranunculus pinguis) ; gentians 
pink, violet, and crimson (Gentiana cerina); the straggling shrubby 
Veronica Bentham, exquisite with its blue flowers; the gorgeous 
orange-coloured swamp-lily (Chrysobactron Rossii); the prince of 
forget-me-nots, its blossom ultramarine (Myosotis capitata), perhaps 
the most beautiful plant in the New Zealand flora; and mats of the 
stiff rosettes of Celmisia vernicosa, bearing many fine flower-heads 
with purple centres and white rays, while the leaves are like polished 
greenstone. Other magnificent plants are two of the carrot family, 
with great masses of close-growing purple blossoms (Anisotome. lati- 
folia and A. antipoda), the former with leaves reaching to the middle 
of one’s thigh; and the herbaceous araliad, Stilbocarpa polaris, 
whose massive creeping stem afforded, in 1907, a valuable food for 
the unfortunate castaways of the “Dundonald.” Attention must 
also be called to Cotula plumosa, a plant with creeping stems and 
pale-green leaves, 6 inches long, feathery, and aromatic. There is 
also the closely allied C. lanata, which is frequently a plant of the 
seashore. Blackish patches of the prickly shield-fern (Polystichum 
vestitum) in many places contrast with the varied greens. 
The tussocks rank with the forest and the herb-field as an 
astonishing feature of these New Zealand subantarctic islands (see 
frontispiece) Their habit is that cf the niggerhead, described in 
Chapter VIII. On Antipodes Island and in some parts of the Lord 
Auckland Group they are in many places quite 4 feet high, and 
grow so closely that to make any progress at all one is compelled to 
walk upon their tops. On Antipodes Island these tussocks take the 
place of arborescent growth, and it is curious to see the little green 
parrakeet peculiar to the island (Cyanorhamphus unicolor) perched 
and swaying on the drooping grass-leaves. Where the tussocks are 
lower, the wandering-albatross (Diomedia exulans) rears its young, 
bringing daily from the ocean the supply of food. Here, too, the 
