THE WAEMEll TEMPERATE ZONE. 137 



with heads of about fifteen large Buttercup-like flowers ; the 

 splendid yellow flowers each an inch and a half broad, and 

 with large handsome leaves. But such sights must be com- 

 paratively rare ; for " the traveller from whatever country, 

 on arriving in New Zealand, finds himself surrounded by a 

 vegetation that is almost wholly new to him ; with little that 

 is at first sight striking, except the Tree-fern and an herba- 

 ceous little shrub, called the Qordytine, in the northern parts, 

 and nothing familiar, except possibly the Mangrove ; and 

 as he extends his investigations into the flora, with two ex- 

 ceptions (Pomaderris and I/eptospermum), he finds few forms 

 that remind him of other countries. Of the numerous Pines, 

 very few recall by habit and appearance the idea attached 

 either to trees of this family in the Northern Hemisphere, 

 or to those which represent them in the Southern. The only 

 plants which, when examined, are found to be closely allied 

 with plants of other countries, are those of the Myrtle, 

 Epacris, and Protect, tribes, though this resemblance would 

 scarcely be guessed by the general appearance. There are no 

 Leguminous plants; an abundance of bushes and Ferns, 

 and very few Grasses;" nevertheless some of the arbores- 

 cent Grasses, which " properly belong only to the tropics," 

 are said by Meyen to be found in New Zealand, even below 



