26 THE SHRUBS AND HERBACEOUS PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 
Leaving our selected belt of bush, we force our way through 
the bracken to a leading spur and start our ascent treading under 
foot one of the Iris family, the Libertia (L. ixicoides) with its three 
waxy white petals, and scattering the loosely-held blue berries of 
Dianella intermedia, one of the Liliacee. A few hundred feet up, we 
get into the forest of Northofagus (4), a species of beech, upon which 
the scarlet Loranthus (L. micranthus) is a conspicuous semi-parasite. 
We see an epiphytic orchid of great beauty with rose-colored pendul- 
ous racemes (Dendrobium Cunninghamii) and yet another (Earina 
suaveolens, 14) growing on the stumps of decaying trees. It is 
sweetly scented and white, with two orange spots. My specimen has 
lost its beauty and ethereal odour in drying. 
Assisting one’s ascent by holding on to the tough vegetation, a 
disgusting odour is revealed by the bruising of the leaves of ‘one of 
the Madder family (Coprosma foetidissima) a low, evil-smelling shrub. 
Still upwards a remarkable shrub, the lance-wood of the settlers 
(Pseudo-panax crassifolium) succeeds. It belongs to the tropical 
family of Araliads. The young plant and the mature shrub differ so 
markedly in foliage, that for years I had looked upon them as 
different species, and confess a sense of botanical humiliation on 
discovering my error. 
At this altitude we find one of the Erica family, the snowberry 
(Gaulteria rupestris 8) with pretty urn shaped flowers which, on 
maturing, develop their calyxes into white, pink or red pseudo-fruits 
of delicate taste—a staple diet of the ground parrot in the South. 
Another of the Ericacez, the Epacries is here, but an unworthy 
representative when compared with the Australian genus. We can 
also study the imposing fronds of Gleichena cunninghamii (27) and, 
if lucky, we may obtain a glimpse of the rare Davallia (28). 
At 3,500 feet we suddenly emerge from dense bush and, for a 
few chains, are beset with a zone of shrubs called ‘‘ tupare” by the 
Maories (Olearia insignis). The blossoms are beautiful large com- 
posites, but the smooth rigid branches which impede progress will 
never be forgotten by those who essayed to force a passage across the 
belt of simple-looking scrub. 
Another 500 feet of steep but fairly open bush, with dripping 
trees clad in moisture-laden moss, Polypodium ballarieri (31) 
