182 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 
fern Loxsoma Cunninghamii (the genus endemic), which is found in 
certain localities only, there forming great colonies amongst manuka 
near the outskirts of kauri forests (in all floras it is placed with the 
filmy ferns, but the discovery of its juvenile sexual stage a few years 
ago showed this to be erroneous, so for the future it must be placed 
with the ordinary thicker-leaved ferns) ; the kauri (Agathis australis) ; 
the taraire (Bezlschmiedia taraire) ; the tawhero (Weimmannia sylvicola) ; 
the makamaka (Ackama rosaefolia) ; the mairehau (Phebaliwm nudum) ; 
various species of Pittosporum, especially the karo (P. crassifoliwm) ; 
one or two species of Coprosma—e.g., C. arborea and C. spathulata. 
Some species are confined to the far north—e.g., the king fern (Todea 
barbara) ; the parasitic Cassytha paniculata ; the beautiful large thin- 
leaved oru (Colensoa physaloides), able to endure much shade. Even 
the actual North Cape has its peculiar plants, limited to that 
wind-swept promontory; such are Cassinia amoena, Halorrhagis 
cartilaginea, and a thick-leaved form of the hangehange (Genostoma 
hgustrifolium). 
Quite a number of species well known in New Zealand farther 
to the south have their northern limit in the South Auckland 
Botanical District—e.g., the filmy ferns Hymenophyllum pulcherromum 
and H. unilaterale, the alpine hard-fern (Blechnum penna marina), 
the prickly shield-fern (Polystichum vestitum), the nodding club-moss 
(Lycopodium varium), the alpine club-moss (L. fastigiatum), and the 
mountain club-moss (LZ. scariosum). That plants which can travel so 
easily as can ferns and club-mosses by means of their spores, light 
as dust, should suddenly be arrested in their march northwards 
rather throws out of gear one’s ordinary conception of the capacities 
of such plants for long journeys over the ocean and eventual settle- 
ment. Amongst other species with the same northern limit as the 
above are the mountain-toatoa (Phyllocladus alpinus), the pahau-tea 
(Iabocedrus Bidwilliz), the silver-tussock (Poa caespitosa), certain 
small sedges, the forest-snowberry (Enargea parviflora), the broad- 
leaved cabbage-tree (Cordyline indivisa), the star-lily (Arthropodium 
candidum), the silver southern-beech (Nothofagus Menziesii), the wild- 
irishman (Discaria towmatou), the slender broom (Carmichaelia flagelli- 
formis), the haumakaroa (Nothopanax simplex), the mountain-foxglove 
(Ourisia macrophylla), Coprosma linariifolia, the hupiro (C. foetidis- 
sima). It is remarkable, too, that most of the above have come to 
a standstill here, since they are quite well fitted for dispersal. The 
