140 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 
Within the forest is a second endemic needle-leaved heath, 
the tree-heath (Dracophyllum arborewm), remarkable in two ways ; 
for, first of all, it usually begins its career as a perching-plant on a 
tree-fern, and next it has a juvenile form, which it maintains for many 
years, with leaves far broader than those of the adult. Moreover, 
from even high up in the tree, late in life, it may revert again to its 
broad-leaved juvenile stage. When fully grown it has a short, thick 
trunk, spreading branches, and is about 30 feet in height. 
The most famous of all the Chatham Island plants is the giant 
forget-me-not (Myosotidium nobile) (fig. 2), usually called by the 
absurd name of Chatham Island lily, or, what is worse, Macquarie 
cabbage! This wonderful plant, found nowhere else in the world, 
is now almost extinct. Formerly it extended, according to the late 
Mr. F. A. D. Cox, almost round the main island, forming a broad 
belt on the seashore, just above where the dry seaweed marks the 
high-tide limit. The massive, shining, broad, green rhubarb-like 
leaf-blades, a foot or more in length, raised high from the ground 
on stout leaf-stalks, and the numerous blue flowers, each half an 
inch or so in diameter, render this plant a most conspicuous object. 
The seeds germinate rapidly if fresh, and seedlings are raised with 
the greatest ease. The author has long thought this noble plant 
might easily be naturalized on certain North Island shores—for 
instance, on those of the Little Barrier and Kapiti. Near the Porto- 
bello Fish-hatchery it has been introduced and is growing luxuriantly. 
Surely some effort could be made to fence a piece of the Chatham 
Island shore from sheep and pigs, so that this rare, interesting, and 
most beautiful plant could once more reassert itself in its natural 
station. 
Other interesting Chatham Island plants which, except the sedge, 
are endemic are the mutton-bird plant (Cotula Featherstoni), which 
grows only near the holes of the petrels, and its near relative 
O. Renwickii, hitherto recorded only from the Forty-fours, a small 
group of rocky islets ; the shrubby speedwells, Veronica Dieffenbachi, 
V. Dorrien-Smithi, V. Barkeri, and V. chathamica, this latter a charm- 
ing little plant, of which there are many distinct forms, which creeps 
over rocks close to the sea; the great sowthistle (Sonchus grandifolius), 
which grows on sand-covered ledges of rock near the sea, or at times 
on the dunes; the bog-poa (Poa chathamica) an important fodder 
plant; the Chatham cranesbill (Geranium Traversi), of which there 
