Platk 127.— h] pack is ALPINA. 



Family EPACRIDACE.^. | [C,Kmjs EPACRTS, Forst. 



Epacris alpina, Hook. j. Fl. Nor. Z,-l. i. KifJ; Cheesem. .Man. S.Z. Fl. lid. 



Epacris alpina was une of the plants discovered by Mr. J. ('. Bidwill on the 

 central volcanic plateau of the North Island in the year 1839— most probably on the 

 lower slopes of Ngauruhoe, which he was the first European to ascend. A few years 

 later it was collected by Mr. Colenso in the same district. It is now known to be 

 a most abundant plant on the slopes of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, and Ruapehu, and 

 on the high country around them, ascending to quite 5,000 ft., and in many places 

 forming no small proportion of the shrubby vegetation. It has also been observed 

 on the Kaimanawa and Ruahine Mountains, and on the Kaweka Range, in Hawke's 

 Bay. Curiously enough, it does not seem to have been noted on any portion of the 

 Tararua Range, although I cannot doubt that it exists thereon. Its ncjrthern limit 

 appears to be on the sununit of Mount Tauhara, at tlie north end of Lake Taupo, 

 where I collected it many years ago. In the South Island I have observed it in 

 great abundance on the eastern portion of Mount Owen, at an elevation of 4,000 ft. ; 

 while Mr. Townson has collected it on Mount Rochfort, and Mr. CafHn near 

 Denniston. In the '■ Handbook " it is recorded as growing with Pentachondra on 

 the Southern Alps, on the authority of Sinclair and Haast, but I am ignorant of 

 the exact locality. 



I have had many opportunities of observing E. alpina on the central plateau 

 of the North Island. It usually forms a densely branched bush 1 ft. to 3 ft. in height, 

 often decumbent at the base, but with the upper branches strictly erect and 

 clothed with numerous broadly ovate thick and coriaceous leaves seldom more 

 than J in. in length. The flowers are white, and are abundantly produced towards 

 the tips of the branchlets. As a species it is allied to E. paiiciflora, but can always 

 be distinguished by its smaller size, by its more spreading habit and more numerous 

 branches, and by the smaller and more obtuse leaves. The chief shrubby plants 

 associated with E. alpina on the volcanic plateau are Senecio Bidwillii, Oleariu 

 nummularifolia, Cassinia VauviUiersii, Coprosma cuneata and C. depressa, Draco- 

 phyllum reGurimm and D. subulatum, Veronica tetragona, Podocarpus nivalis, 

 Dacrydium Bidwillii and D. laxifolium, and Phyllodadus alpinus. 



Plate 127. Epacris alpina, drawn from specimens collected near the base of Ngauruhoe ; altitude 

 3,000 ft. Fig. 1, branchlet with leaves (x 5) ; 2, flower, with the imbricated bracts below the calyx 

 (x5); 3, one of the bracts (x8); 4, a single sepal (x 8) ; 5, corolla laid open {x8); (5 and 7, 

 front and back view of antlier ( x 8) ; 8, ovary ( x 8) ; 9, longitudinal section of ovary ( x 10) ; 

 10, transverse section of same (x 10). 



