Buenanan.—Sketch of the Botany of Otago. 191 
and shrubs. In its general features it differs considerably from the bush 
flora of the East Coast. In addition to the pines which are distributed over 
every part of New Zealand, Metrosideros lucida, Weinmannia racemosa, Fagus 
fusca, F. menziesii, and F. solandri are the most prominent and abundant in 
numbers, the two first being remarkable for beauty when in flower. 
In the sounds and harbours along the coast, the bush comes down to the 
sea in some places where not so steep, having a belt of shrubs on the shore. 
In ascending a mountain at Dusky Bay, this belt is first passed through, 
consisting of many rare and beautiful shrubs: Olearia operina, with its star 
fascicles of leaves centred by large white flowers (this plant is only found 
between Milford Sound and Preservation Inlet) ; Archeria traversi, a large, 
ornamental heath-shrub, with racemes of red flowers; Senecio rotundifolia, 
. a large, ornamental shrub-tree; as also species of Veronica, Pimelea, Coriaria, 
Plagianthus, Sophora, and Olearia. 
For the first 1,000 feet altitude the principal trees are species of Daery- 
dium, Podocarpus, Fagus, Metrosideros, and Weinmannia, with several of 
the smaller shrub-trees of the western region, as also Cyathea medullaris, 
Dicksonia squarrosa, tree-ferns; the latter being the furthest south tree- 
fern in New Zealand. At 2,000 feet altitude many of the trees have dis- 
appeared, and others become stunted from the severity of the climate. At 
2,500 feet altitude the trees cease, and a belt of stunted gnarled shrubs are 
passed through, to the bald mountain top. This belt is sometimes found to 
consist of Olearia colensoi only, and is very difficult to pass through, from 
the branches interlacing. 
The open mountain top is covered with a growth of coarse grass, tracked 
all over by the kakapo parrot. The alpine vegetation at 3,500 feet altitude 
consists.of the following plants, many of which are only sub-alpine on 
Mount Alta, at the Wanaka Lake :— 
Ranunculus lyallii (abundant), Celmisia ramulosa, C. verbascifolia, C. lyallii, 
C. laricifolia, Claytonia australasica, Caltha nove-zealandie, Epilobium 
purpuratum, Aciphylla monroi, A. lyallii, Ligusticum, Coprosma pumila, 
Brachycome sinclairi, Craspedia alpina, Senecio lyallii, S. bifistulosus, Forstera 
sedifolia, Wahlenbergia saxicola, Pentachondra pumila, Dracophyllum 
rosmarinifolia, D. menziesii, Gentiana montana, G. saxosa, Myosotis capitata, 
Veronica levis, V. buxifolia, Ourisia macrophylla, O. cespitosa, Anthericum | 
hookeri. i 
POPULAR ARRANGEMENT OF THE OTAGO FLORA. 
Many of the most prominent plants have been named by the settlers of 
Otago from certain apparent affinities of likeness or quality of wood: this 
