440 DICOTYLEDONS AND CONIFERS 



Epacris microphylla, R. Br. 



In 1875 A. T. Urquhart discovered three plants on the southern 

 side of Manukau Harbour. Six years later a dense mass of plants 

 60 yards in circumference occupied the ground. Its present occur- 

 rence is almost the same as the preceding species. 



Epacris pulchella, Cav. 



Found by Urquhart in the same locality as the two preceding 

 species. Urquhart thought it probable that the seeds of all three 

 species were carried over from Australia by high winds. 



ERICACEAE 



Calluna vulgaris, Salisb. Ling; Heather 



In 1909 D. Petrie reported that some two or three acres of land 

 near Opepe Bush in the Taupo district was covered with this plant. 

 He was informed that the seed was sown by Major Roberts (formerly 

 Stipendiary Magistrate at Tauranga, during the latter part of the 

 war with the natives in Te Kooti's time (about 1869). Another 

 version of the introduction of Calluna vulgaris into the Taupo district 

 is given in a letter from Captain Gilbert Mair to Mr J. D. Macfarlane 

 of Napier. He says : 



In 1870 I received a case used for Portland Cement, full of heather 

 sprays. Whenever I rode about the country, I sowed this seed from the 

 saddle, but it must have fallen on stony ground, or bush fires may have 

 destroyed it, for there were no results in this district. 



I then sent a native orderly named Hammond to Major Scannell at 

 Opepe, with the bulk of the seed, and in July 1871, he told me he had 

 entrusted Sergeant McCarthy with the sowing of it. 



In later years, Mr Cullen, Head of the Department of Police, has 

 planted large numbers of plants in Tongariro National Park, in antici- 

 pation of the grouse which he hoped to see liberated there. A very 

 strong protest against this action has been made by Captain Ellis, the 

 recently appointed Director of Forestry in New Zealand. The plant 

 is establishing itself in more than one locality. 



In Europe the species is fertilised by Apis mellifica, Bombus 

 hortorum, B. lucorum, B. lapidarius, B. terrestris, Eristalis tenax and 

 Calliphora erythrocephala 1 . 



1 In 1 882 the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society imported seeds of the American 

 cranberry (Oxycoccos macrocarpus, Pers.) and distributed them. I am not aware 

 that they ever grew or increased. 



