II 



THE WILD INDIGENOUS PLANTS OF THE CITY OF 

 WELLINGTON. 



Here is included all the area within the city boundaries together 

 with the forest reserve at Day's Bay. Much, though nominally 

 " city," is open country containing many remnants of the almost 

 continuous original forest covering, and there is also an extensive 

 coast-line which provides many types of coastal habitats. In con- 

 sequence, about 37 per cent, of the total New Zealand lowland and 

 coastal floras, taken together, are gathered together into a small 

 compass. 



The pteridophytes and spermophytes number about 416 species, 

 which belong to no less than 83 families and 210 genera. The 

 largest families and genera, together with the species in each, are 

 Filices, 67 ; Cyperaceae, 35 ; Gramineae, 25 ; Compositae, 23 ; 

 Rubiaceae, 21 ; Orchidaceae, 18 ; Onagraceae, 15 ; Coprosma, 18 ; 

 Epilobium, 12 ; Carex, n ; Hymenophyllum and Blechnum, each 10. 



So far as forest-plants are concerned, a considerable percentage 

 can be seen within the city proper, for much of the Botanical Gardens 

 is occupied by a fairly-well-preserved example of the semi-coastal 

 rain-forest which originally filled the gullies and clothed many of 

 the slopes where houses now stand closely. Unfortunately, the tall 

 trees were destroyed long ago, but there is still a dense, rich vegetation 

 of about no kinds of small trees, tree-ferns, shrubs, lianes, and ferns 

 in general. Some characteristic plants of the New Zealand flora are 

 represented by fine examples in this invaluable open-air museum : 

 e.g., the cauliflorous tree Dysoxylum spectabile, the dimorphic 

 Pennantia corymbosa, Pseudopanax crassifolium var. unifoliolatum 

 (with its juvenile and adult forms so different that at one time 

 they were held to be distinct species), Rubus australis (a huge 

 bramble), and Myrtus bullata with its curious blistered leaves. 



At Lyall Bay typical dunes may be seen with the endemic 

 Scirpus frondosus an admirable example of convergent epharmony 

 as a sand-binder, and the locally endemic Acaena novae-zelandiae 

 var. pallida. On shaded coastal cliffs there is abundance of Phormium 

 Colensoi, and in its company Senecio lagopus and Festuca multinodis. 

 Aciphylla squarrosa and a variety of Raoulia australis also occur 

 on the coast, though they are frequently mountain-plants. The 

 subantarctic Crassula moschata has on this piece of coast its sole 

 station for the North Island. Several rather rare species are coastal 

 e.g., Lepidium obtusatum, Hymenanthera obovata, Copvosma Kirkii, 

 and C. Buchanani. 



The Day's Bay reserve is a noble piece of almost virgin forest 

 some 600 acres in extent. The dominant tall trees belong to the 

 subantarctic genus Nothofagus, the species being N. fusca and N. 

 Solandri, together with various forms of hybrids between them, one 

 group of such being known as N. apiculata. Within the gullies the 

 vegetation is of the rain-forest type, while the Nothofagus association 

 is confined to the drier slopes. Compared with the rain-forest, its 

 undergrowth is more open and xerophytic, as evidenced by the 

 presence of Cyathodes acerosa and other drought-resisting species. But 

 the filmy fern, Trichomanes reniforme, with its broad fronds curled 

 up in dry weather, is common on the dry slopes. Near streams bryo- 

 phytes are plentiful, including the huge thalloid liverwort Monoclea 

 Forsteri. At its outskirts the forest merges into tall shrubland, with 

 the usual Leptospermum scoparium dominant, combined, however, 

 with young trees, so that it is really potential forest. 



L. COCKAYNE. 



