PLANT-WANDERINGS. 179 
CHAPTER XII. 
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PLANTS IN NEW ZEALAND. 
General remarks—What the plants could tell of their wanderings—The botanical 
districts — The Three Kings Botanical District — The North and South 
Auckland Botanical Districts—The Volcanic Plateau Botanical District— 
The East Cape Botanical District —The Egmont-Wanganui Botanical 
District—The Ruahine-Oook Botanical District—Cook Strait no barrier to 
the wandering of plants— General considerations regarding distribution 
throughout the South Island—The North-western Botanical District—The 
North-eastern Botanical District—The Western Botanical District — The 
Eastern Botanical District The North Otago Botanical District — The 
Fiord Botanical District—The South Otago Botanical District—The Stewart 
Botanical District The botanical provinces— How plants travel long 
distances—Discontinuous distribution—Species known in only one locality. 
THE story of the distribution of our plants is certainly one of the 
most thrilling they have to tell. Perhaps it might include their 
origin also—that mystery from which merely a corner of the veil 
has been raised, only to be dropped again before more than a 
shadowy glance has been gained. The story, some small part of 
which is told in this chapter and the next, would perforce deal with 
long journeys over land and sea; with mountains slowly rising and 
sinking, but all the time being carved into fantastic forms by water 
or moulded by ice; with land and sea replacing one another again 
and again—profound depths of ocean coming into being, but, with 
the moving years, changing into shallow seas or dry land; with 
fluctuations of climate from antarctic cold to tropic heat. Then 
would the plants tell of their constant struggle literally for ‘“‘a place 
in the sun,” or it might be in the shade; of the going to the wall 
of beings too highly organized to begin a new life; of the victory 
for those able to accommodate themselves to circumstances ; of the 
selecting action of soil and climate; of the ills they had suffered 
at the hands of many animals and even of their fellows. 
If much of the above the plants can only hint at, they cer- 
tainly can tell where they reside at present; they can give some 
information as to their modes of travelling; they can teach us 
