Ecological Botany.] SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND, 195 



marked xerophytic adaptation, and in Suttonia divaricata reaches about its climax. 

 It seems quite out of place in a rain-forest climate, but it is above all else a powerful 

 adaptation against violent winds, and, although equally suited to a dry climate and 

 porous soil, it might wdl he considered, along with the feat-forming hahit of other plants, 

 a special suhantarctic characteristic were it not for other considerations connected 

 with the general geological history of New Zealand. The early seedling form of 

 Suttonia divaricata shows the divaricating characteristic in a marked degree even 

 when growing under shade-conditions. 



The Dracophyllum form of upright, close, naked branches, bearing numerous 

 needlelike vertical leaves at their extremities, the shrubs themselves of a fastigiate 

 habit, is characteristic of the scrub of Campbell Island. The sub-final twigs of the 

 Campbell Island species are 10 cm., more or less, in length, extremely slender, and 

 given off in abundance at a very narrow angle from a much thicker branch (6 mm. 

 or so in diameter), and in their turn giving off similarly the final twigs, which are 

 only about 1 cm. long, and bear the bunch of short leaves just at their apex. All 

 these branchlets being closely pressed together make close, erect masses of foliage. 



Stj/phelia empetrifolia is a prostrate heathlike shrub, with wiry, slender, flexible, 

 leafy branches, forming a more or less reddish-coloured mat upon the ground. The 

 root is stout, woody, and deeply descending. The leaves are very small, linear, 

 short, dark green or reddish-brown, waxy on under-surface, and bent at right angles 

 to the red petioles, which are pressed almost to the stem. The margins are recurved. 



The endemic Veronica Benthami is an erect, loosely branching shrub, 20 cm. to 

 40 cm. tall, but more in diameter. The branches are naked, terete, and very flexible, 

 marked with old leaf-scars, and branching near their extremities into short branchlets 

 covered with close-set, horizontal, coriaceous, thick, bright-green leaves, 2-5 cm. 

 long by 1 cm. broad, more or less. 



Cassinia Vauvilliersii is an upright closely branched shrub, 1 m. or more tall, 

 of a dense habit of growth. The leaves are small, obovate, about 7 mm. long, stiff, 

 coriaceous, and covered with a close, very dense, yellow tomentum on the under- 

 surface, as are also the ultimate branchlets, giving a general yellowish colour to the 

 shrub. The final twigs are quite straight, given off at an angle of about 45°, are 

 spirally arranged, and decrease regularly in size from base to apex of the sub- 

 tending branch. 



(y.) Herbaceous Plants. 

 (i.) General. 



The herbaceous plants are nearly all perennials, the exceptions being Gentiana 

 concinna and G. antarctica (annuals) and G. antipoda (perhaps biennial). According 

 to whether the aerial portions die down to the ground annually, or the contrary, so 

 may the herbaceous perennials be divided into summer-green or evergreen herbs. 

 Between these two categories there are transitions, the evergreen portion becoming 

 much reduced, as in the cases of Gentiana cerina and Pleurophyllum speciosum. 



Summer-green Herbs. — The following die to the ground in winter : Pleuro- 

 phyllum criniferum, Bvlbinella Rossii, and most of the terrestrial orchids. Bulbindla 

 and Pleurophyllum criniferum have in winter well-developed leaf-buds, which are 

 enclosed and protected by the decaying leaves of previous years. P. Hooheri is 

 semi-summer-green. 



