NEW ZEALAND—EGBERT H. WALKER 323 
Shrubland is any plant community in which tall trees are wanting 
and shrubs dominate. The fern, which comprises the fernland, is the 
native variant of the world-wide bracken, Pteridium aquilinum var. 
esculentum, or P. esculentum of many authors. Fernland is here 
linked with shrubland because the fern reaches shrub size and the 
formation is as dense and impenetrable as the densest thicket of 
woody shrubs. Furthermore, this fern community is closely related 
ecologically to the other most extensive shrub community, that 
dominated by manuka? (Leptospermum scoparium or L. ericoides— 
Myrtaceae) (pl. 5, fig. 2). Together these two cover more area than 
do the other shrub formations, of which there are many in very 
different habitats and of diverse composition, form, and origin. As 
in other lands, these shrub formations develop in response to certain 
natural conditions. These conditions may develop over a long 
period of time. When sudden changes occur favorable to the growth 
of a shrub community the formation is called an induced formation. 
Shrub formations follow certain volcanic eruptions and sometimes 
floods or places of excessive erosion. But more significantly they are 
man-induced, coming along after the forest has been destroyed with 
ax and fire, and grass has been sown on the ashes, or where man’s fires 
and his overabundant greedy sheep have destroyed the natural 
grass cover. (See pl. 4, fig. 1.) 
The manuka (Leptospermum scoparium—Myrtaceae) is a shrub or 
small tree with an amazing adaptability and persistence. It usually 
forms a community without the bracken or it may be variously mixed 
with this fern. It seems able to grow anywhere, wet or dry, in good 
soil or bad, and in heat or reasonable cold, but not in alpine con- 
ditions or deep forest shade. Its outstanding ability to thrive on 
poor soil makes it rush in where man has done his best to destroy the 
land. It is especially prominent on the gumlands of North Auckland, 
dug over and the fertility dissipated in the search for fossil kauri gum, 
desired as an ingredient in high-grade varnish. Manuka is extremely 
plastic in its response to its environment. Within this community 
there are some 81 other species of plants, many of them of great 
interest to the botanist, not the least being the bulbous-rooted New 
Zealand orchids. Manuka is an important source of fuel for man, 
3 To the foreigner the widespread use in New Zealand of native Maori names for trees and other plants is 
somewhat disconcerting. Very often there is no other name, as for example, manuka for Leptospermum 
scoparium or kauri for Agathis australis. These names have often been made into the specific scientific 
names, as taraire in Beilschmeidia taraire and tawa in B. tawa. Another common practice of many New 
Zealanders is to use in speech a specific scientific name for a common name, as macrocarpa for Cupressus 
macrocarpa, lawsoniana for Cupressus lawsoniana, and radiata for Pinus radiata, the Monterey pine. 
Another disconcerting practice is the use of some common English name, such as pine, for something which 
a foreigner at least would hardly recognize as such. Native pine in New Zealand refers to species of Podo- 
carpus. ‘Thus the traveler is in a new nomenclatorial atmosphere. For popular names of New Zealand 
plants see Andersen (2) and Cheeseman (4). 
