GENERAL INTRODUCTION 21 



shrubs and trees are unknown, and the chief plants found 

 on trunks and hnibs of trees are accidental epiphytes, such 

 as mosses and ferns. The light spores of these are blown 

 about by the wind, and thus are able to reach lofty situations 

 on the face of a cliff, or in the forks of a tree. The seeds 

 of some dicotyledonous epiphytes, such as those of the rata, 

 may be carried about in the same way, but others are deposited 

 in position by birds. In New Zealand the number of epiphytes 

 is very large, considering the latitude of the country. We 

 must again, as in the case of the lianes, go to Chili to find 

 forests in a similar latitude with an equal abundance of 

 epiphytic growths. Diels suggests that this characteristic 

 is due to large rainfall in the forest regions of both countries. 

 The following list includes the most important of the epiphytic 

 species amongst the flowering plants : — Astelia Gunninghamii, 

 A. Solandri, A. spicata, Earina mucronata, E. autumnalis, 

 Denclrohumn Givnninghmnii, Bolhophijllum pygmaeiim, 

 Sarcochilus adversus, Peperomia UrviUeana, Pittosporum 

 cornifolium, Metrosideros robiista, M. Golensoi, Griselinia lucida. 

 Diels includes in his list Elatostema rugosum and Gaultheria 

 epiphyta, but is surely in error in doing so. E. rugosum is 

 found only on the sides of creeks and rivers, and in very moist 

 places. It is plentiful, for example, on the rocky walls of 

 the Wanganui River in some parts of its course. G. epiphyta 

 is misnamed, and the error has apparently misled Diels. 



The Scrub. 



Perhaps some mention should be made here of the Scrub, as 

 it is strange to the visitor from the Northern Hemisphere. 

 The light underwood of the English copse or thicket is very 

 different from the impenetrable shaggy scrub of New Zealand. 

 In the wind-swept regions of the south, it is sometimes so 



