Ecological Botany.] 



SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



217 



Its upper surface is uneven, this depending upon the habit of the individual 

 species. Thus the dark-coloured but reddish Suttonia has a flat top, the green 

 Metrosideros is rounded, and the brownish Dracophyllum raises aloft its erect fasti- 

 giate shoots above the general foliage-level. 



At its upper limit the scrub merges into the Danthonia meadow, certain of 

 its more xerophytic members being dotted over that formation — e.g., Cassinia 

 Vauvilliersii and Dracophyllum longifolium ; but the scrub as a whole is confined 

 to the numerous gullies and hollows, where there is still abundance of stunted Metro- 

 sideros and Nothopanax simplex, these more mesophytic plants being absent on the 

 meadow proper, as I have shown previously ("Botanical Excursion," p. 267). 



Via. 11.— Mountain Scrub, consisting chiefly of Stunted Rata ( Metro»ideroK liidda). 

 In foregroand, commencement of tussock meadow of Danthonia antnrctica. 



Where there are openings in the scrub, or where there is space beneath the 

 gnarled and closely interwoven branches, are a few of the meadow plants, or a scanty 

 undergrowth of the fern Blechnum capense. 



The formation is closely related to the Dracophyllum scrub of Campbell Island ; 

 also, it has affinities with the subalpine scrub of New Zealand, but especially that 

 of Veronica, Coprosma, Dracophyllum, and other xerophytes to be found on the sides 

 of river-terraces in the drier portions of the Southern Alps and elsewhere. 



Genetically, the scrub is merely rata forest modified by more extreme con- 

 ditions, especially wind, altitude playing a minor part (fig. 11). 



