148 A NEW ZEALAND NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



mild winter. But this season's frost has proved too much 

 for many such, and the tender ones have suffered severely. 

 Hydrangeas, Fuchsias, geraniums, and many others which 

 usually stand through the year without protection, have 

 been sorely marred. Very slight differences of position 

 and exposure show interesting differences as to the action 

 of frost on them. All flat and low-lying ground has much 

 lower temperatures on clear nights than sloping ground 

 has, from which the air as it is chilled tends to roll 

 downwards. The result is that as a rule the hills round 

 Dunedin feel the effects of frost far less than the flat does, 

 and, in consequence of this, plants survive the winter 

 on the slopes of Roslyn and Mornington which succumb at 

 the level of George Street. 



The severity of the late cold spell* is shown by the way 

 in which native plants have suffered. A most conspicuous, 

 and also a most unexpected, case of damage is the way 

 in which the young shoots and foliage of the common 

 hina-hina (Melicytus ramiflorus) have been shrivelled. 

 It is evident that this is nearly the southern limit of 

 the genus ; this species ranges from Norfolk Island in the 

 north to Stewart Island, but most of the others are found 

 in the North Island. The poroporo has also been cut 

 down badly in all exposed localities. Among North Island 

 plants I find my karaka ( Corynocarptis ) has been killed 

 back to the old wood. Several plants which grow along 

 the coast, but which cannot grow in our inland Districts 

 on account of frost, have been injured in Dunedin Gardens 

 e.g., the ngaio (Myopomm laetum), and even the 

 common large and thick -leaved Senecio rotundifolius. 

 Some of the smaller North Island plants have come off 

 very badly ; a large clump of the white-flowered liliaceous 

 Arthropodium has its foliage blanched and destroyed, 

 though otherwise the plants have withstood the snow. 

 The native Calceolaria is severely scotched, while all the 

 outdoor specimens of the little creeping Fuchsia (F. 

 procui)ibe)isj, which grows wild on the Great Barrier 

 Island, are destroyed. 



* 1901. 



