332 Transactions.— Botany. 
Cryptogams are very numerous both in this zone and the last, but are 
chiefly composed of Musci, Lichenes, and Fungi; Filices being represented 
by a very few species, chiefly of the genera Hymenophyllum, Lomaria, an 
Polystichum. 
The Fourth Zone, that of perpetual snow, yields a few species of Lichenes 
and Alge, but no flowering plants. The tree-ferns, which form such a 
prominent feature in most parts of the colony, are entirely absent from the 
Alps of Canterbury. 
The nearest approach to the arboreal form in a fern occurs in Polystichum 
nonindusiatum, which frequently forms curious masses of root-fibres three 
or four feet high, and as much in diameter. Some of the Hymenophyllee 
seem to be capable of enduring intense cold, for I have gathered H. villosum 
and H. multifidum on boulders embedded in a glacier. 
The Alpine district cannot be said to have been even moderately well 
explored, and no doubt it contains many plants as yet unknown to science. 
It is to be hoped that some one will be able to explore these wonderful 
mountains in a more thorough manner than has ever yet been done, and 
the result will no doubt be highly satisfactory. 
My catalogue gives the names of 496 species of flowering plants from 
the Alpine district, belonging to 164 genera. 
The Forage Plants of Canterbury.—The forage plants of the province 
are numerous and important. They have contributed more than is generally 
admitted to bring about the present advanced state of settlement. Of these 
forage plants, those belonging to the Graminee or grasses are, of course, 
the most important. The grasses of Canterbury number about fifty species 
of varied relationship and various habit. Many of them are fully equal, 
as pasture, to any of the imported kinds, and will, I believe, be generally 
cultivated when their value becomes better understood by the farmers of 
the province. 
The most nutritive grasses as far as I have been able to ascertain are . 
the various species of Danthonia, Microlena avenacea, and Poa foliosa ; but 
these are not, however, the best adapted for cultivation, owing to their 
general coarseness of habit, and liability to die out. The best native 
grasses for general farm purposes are in my opinion the following, which 
fully deserve a trial from all farmers anxious to improve the productiveness 
of their pastures :—The rice grass, Microlena stipoides. The long-awned 
plume grass, Dichelachne crinita. The brown bent, Agrostis canina, var. 
The Mount Cook bent, Agrostis youngii. The dwarf ring-grass, Danthonia 
semi-annularis. The blue wheat-grass, Triticum squarrosum. The short- 
flowered meadow-grass, Poa breviglumis. The leafy meadow-grass, Poa 
foliosa. The mountain tussock-grass, Poa intermedia. The native oat- 
