At the head of Lyttelton Harbour may be seen rhyolites and 

 pitchstones and excellent exposures of loess. A road follows the 

 shore of the harbour, and then climbs for T,OOO ft. to the crest of 

 the Lyttelton crater-ring, from which point a magnificent view is 

 obtained. Looking ea.st there lies the enlarged crater of Lyttelton, 

 with Quail Island in the centre, and finger-like peninsulas dividing 

 the drowned valleys ; in the middle distance is the long gentle slope 

 accordant with the lava-flows which issued from Mount Herbert ; 

 and far beyond the indistinct medley of hills forming the mass of the 

 peninsula. 



R. SPEIGHT. 



THE FLORA OF BANKS PENINSULA. 



Banks Peninsula is a congeries of steep volcanic hills of oval 

 outline about thirty to thirty-five miles long and fifteen to twenty 

 miles wide. In the centre are the crests of Mount Herbert and Castle 

 Hill, rising approximately to a height of 3,000 ft. Botanically 

 speaking, the peninsula is an island, for were it isolated from the 

 plains by a strait five miles wide its vegetation would probably be 

 little different from what it is now. Like all insular districts off 

 the New Zealand coast it has its distinctive species, and these are 

 interesting and striking three rock-plants, Senecio saxifragoides, 

 Veronica Lavaudiana, Celmisia Mackaui, and a fourth plant, Cotula 

 Haastii, usually to be found in dry tussock formations on the 

 seaward side of the peninsula. It is true that these species have 

 been reported from other parts of the province ; but, with the 

 doubtful exception of the fourth mentioned, they are at present not 

 known to botanists elsewhere than on Banks Peninsula. The first 

 three species are striking and handsome plants, found on the 

 moister rock-faces with a southerly aspect. Senecio saxifragoides is 

 confined to the Lyttelton Hills, and is usually found at an altitude 

 of from 800 ft. upwards anywhere between Gebbie's Pass, at the 

 head of Lyttelton Harbour, and the Lyttelton lighthouse, and on 

 the harbour side of the hills only. It is worth looking for a 

 herbaceous plant with a rosette of large rounded hairy leaves, closely 

 appressed to the rocks. Celmisia Mackaui, the rarest of the three, 

 is only to be found near Akaroa, and is scarcely likely to be 

 gathered by the casual visitor. Veronica Lavaudiana is found in 

 similar localities to Senecio saxifragoides, and is abundant all over 

 the peninsula. It produces masses of corymbose white flowers, 

 pinkish in the bud, and is often cultivated locally in gardens. 

 Everywhere, indeed, on the peninsula the rocky faces and promontories 

 provide forms of interest in addition to the endemic species already 

 mentioned. In such situations will be found representatives of the 

 genera Metrosideros, Astelia, Earina, Colobanthus, Dracophyllum, 

 Anisotome, &c., that are not to be met with in the bush below. 

 Indeed, the vegetation of the rocky cliffs here is a highly distinctive 

 one. 



Though visitors will perhaps search for these rare and distinctive 

 species first, there are certain aspects of the florula that are sure also 



