Chapter XIV 



ALTERATION IN FLORA SINCE EUROPEAN 

 OCCUPATION OF NEW ZEALAND 



1 HE changes produced on the indigenous vegetation by the intro- 

 duction of new types of animal life have long been under observation 

 by many competent naturalists, and are more easily followed than 

 those which have affected the native fauna. The subject has been 

 dealt with by many writers. I have dealt with it in some detail when 

 referring to individual species of animals, so I will only give a general 

 summary here. 



Cattle, sheep, goats, horses, deer, pigs, rats, and especially rabbits, 

 have done a great deal of damage in many localities by eating down, 

 and in some cases by eating out the native vegetation. Some mammals 

 and several kinds of birds have actually brought about an increase 

 of the indigenous flora by distributing the seeds of a few species of 

 plants. Introduced insects have produced very considerable changes, 

 but they are somewhat difficult to follow, and have only been partially 

 recorded. 



No instance can be recorded of any species of native plant which 

 has been exterminated owing to this or any other cause dependent 

 on European occupation of the islands. But local extermination has 

 taken place, and the following cases can be cited. 



Lepidium oleraceum, Forst., was formerly abundant round the 

 coasts of all parts of New Zealand, but is now becoming very scarce. 

 Cheeseman says of it : 



It was originally discovered by Banks and Solander during Cook's first 

 voyage, and at that time must have been abundant, for Dr Solander 

 speaks of it as "copiose in littoribus marinis" and Cook states that boat- 

 loads of it were collected and used as an antiscorbutic by his crew. It is 

 now quite extinct in several of the localities he visited, and is fast becoming 

 rare in others. Its disappearance is due to cattle and sheep, which greedily 

 eat it down in any locality they can reach. 



Aston remarks that it "has been eaten out along the Wellington 

 coast, and is now generally only to be found growing on inaccessible 

 rock-faces." The same is to be said of it in Otago, where it is now 

 extremely rare, though abundant forty years ago. 



Speaking of Hibiscus Trionum, Linn., and H. diversifolius, Jacq., 

 Cheeseman says: "Both are being rapidly destroyed by cattle, fires, 



