Kirx.—On the Lake District of the North Island. 327 
The Pukeroa stream contained exactly the same plants already mentioned as 
having been collected in the Ohura. latine americana, with various uliginal 
plants, fringed its banks. One or two small patches of kuhikatea form the 
only timber on the low lands. 
The summit of Ngongotaha and the adjacent hills is clothed with luxuriant 
forest, the margins of which have been from time to time cleared by the 
natives for their scanty cultivations. The chief trees are the rimu, rata 
(Metrosideros robusta, Sm.), tawa, rewa-rewa, mangiao, and pukatea; the 
puka-puka (Brachyglottis repanda, Forst.) and Coprosma grandifolia are 
abundant, and especially A/sewosmia macrophylla, which forms the densest of 
the undergrowth down to 1,700 feet. Senecio glastifolius and Drimys axillaris 
are comparatively rare. Griselinia lucida and Pittosporum cornifolium occur as 
epiphytes with Astelia solandri and A. cunninghamii.. Cyathea medullaris, 
C. dealbata, and Hemitelia smithii are frequent, and a few noble specimens 
of Dicksonia antarctica occur near the summit, but as a rule the paucity 
of species extends to ferns, no less than to pheenogamic plants. 
The open country towards the north end of the lake presents still fewer 
plants of interest ; Dracophyllum subulatum, Hook. f., the most characteristic 
plant of the Taupo plains, attains here its northern limit. Near the point 
where the road to Tauranga crosses the Kotukuroa creek, two or three bushes 
of a large-leaved Pittosporum, four to six feet high, were observed with 
immature fruit. In the absence of flowers, I identified the plant with 
P. tenuifolium, var. fasciculatum, although the peduncles are erect. Lyco- 
podium magellanicum, which attains its extreme northern boundary a few 
miles nearer Tauranga, was plentiful ; when growing luxuriously, as in the 
present instance, it is a far more graceful plant than its European represen- 
tative LZ. clavatum, L., and presents a totally different appearance to the 
stunted condition common on high open lands. JZ. scarioswm covered the 
rocks with its long pendent stems, the bright yellow spikes harmonizing well 
with the deep green leaves. Gaultheria oppositifolia, Hook. f., was plentiful 
in one spot, although the specimens had a stunted appearance ; with Craspedia 
fimbriata, DC., it attains its northern limit in this habitat. 
The forest on this side presented few plants of interest when compared 
with the forests of the northern part of the province, and was remarkable from 
the absence of kauri, tarairi, and puriri. The hinau, rata, (Metrosideros 
robusta, Sm.) matai, miro, tawa, mangiao, and rewa-rewa are abundant. 
Weinmannia racemosa, Santalum cunninghamii, and Ixerba brexioides are 
much less frequent, but I have reason to believe that on the Tauranga side 
the number of species is much larger. 
To return to the lake, on the north side I was surprised to find on the 
beach the littoral plants Promus arenarius, Lab., Carex pumila, Th., Scirpus 
