Apams.—On the Botany of Te Aroha Mountain. 277 
On a secondary range, lying to the right of the old Maori track from 
Wairongomai to Katikati, and elevated about 900 feet above the plain, I 
was pleased to find two lakes, one of which appears to be 10 chains long 
and 1 chain wide. 
The borders of this lake are not swampy, and the middle of it appears to 
be deep. The Maoris informed me that it was a favourite place for fishing 
for eels. It is frequented by wild ducks and river gulls. Here I found 
Myriophyllum robustum, Aristotelia fruticosa, Myrtus pedunculata, Eugenia 
maire, Dacrydium intermedium, in addition to the ordinary hill vegetation. 
On the dividing range between Wairongomai and Katikati I found no 
plants different from those found on Te Aroha Mountain except Celmisia 
longifolia. 
I was so struck with the difference of the vegetation of Te Aroha Moun- 
tain from that of the dividing range between the Thames and Tairua 
Districts that I made an excursion to the high hills between Waihi and 
Waitekauri, which are separated from Te Aroha Mountain by the Waihi 
Plains, in order to discover where the rare plants on the Coromandel Range 
end. On the sides and summit of Te Paua I found Panax discolor and P. 
anomalum, but not Archeria racemosa nor the other plants peculiar to the 
main range. It appears evident that the true Coromandel Range, of which 
Whakairi, Kaitarakihi, and Pakerarahi are high peaks, does not even extend 
to Waihi, but probably ends near Whangamata, at the head of the Tairua 
River.* 
The plants that are found at Te Aroha and not found in the Thames 
district, are Aristotelia fruticosa, Potentilla anserina, Myriophyllum robustum, 
Myrtus ralphii, M. obcordata, M. pedunculata, Teucridium parviflorum, 
Phyllocladus alpina, Elatostemma rugosum, Libocedrus bidwillii, Eleocharis 
sphacelata, Cladium articulatum, Hymenophyllum pulcherrimum, H. malingii, 
Todea superba, Ophioglossum lusitanicum. This list no doubt does not include 
all those not found in the Thames District, but so far as it goes there is an 
* This statement has been verified by a recent visit to the head of the Tairua River. 
"xm with the same vegetation as the other high mountains on the Coromandel Range. 
There is the same abundance of Panas discolor, Archeria racemosa, and Dacrydium inter- 
medium. In fact, it is essentially a part of Whakairi from a botanical point of view. I 
found Melicytus lanceolatus and Coprosma foetidissima at a somewhat higher elevation 
than the kauri forest, but not abundant. These two plants appear to spread vigorously 
some years after the mountain forest has been partly cleared. It is worthy of remark 
that the five high peaks—Mamaepuke, Whakairi, Kaitarakihi, Pakerarahi, and Ngapuke- 
turua—have all immense kauri forests near the base of the respective mountains, an 
that these forests extend on a moderately steep incline from the main range to the east 
coast, 
: UE 
ere the main range rises into Mount Ngapuketurua, 2,275 feet in height, which is = 
e 
