388 Transactions. — Botany. 



descend very much nearer the sea-level, so that some of those that can be 

 found only at elevations of 1,800 or 2,000 feet on the Thames side are 

 found as low down as 500 feet from the sea-level near Tairua sawmills. 



The country round the sawmills is a painful scene of widespread desola- 

 tion ; as the large timber is not only cleared away, but the undergrowth is 

 annually burnt. There is, however, one exception along the course of the 

 Pepe Creek, and here I found Quintinia serrata, Panax discolor, Panax sim- 

 plex, Phylhcladus glauca, and Loxsoma cunninghamii, at an elevation of not 

 more than 500 feet. Far greater havoc is made of the forests, on the 

 Tairua side than on the Thames, which may be partly owing to the nature 

 of the soil ; but it is, however, certain that for sixteen miles, along the 

 Tairua Kiver from the sawmills, the desolate appearance of the country is 

 very distressing. This desolation will be much increased when the kauri 

 forests, near the Tairua diggings, are cut down. The traveller will then be 

 able to look from Pakirarahi over all the country to the east coast, which 

 will then be the most rained and disfigured part of New Zealand. Faciunt 

 solitudinem et cultum appellant. 



In addition to the exploration of the main range I have paid a good deal 

 of attention to orchids ; and as these plants have on the whole very short 

 seasons, it may not be unprofitable to put in a connected form the months 

 in which they bloom in the Thames district. 



This is the more easy, as the different species appear from month to 

 month throughout the year with such regularity as to form a kind of floral 

 calendar by their successive appearance in flower. 



The botanical year may be said to commence in June, when Acianthus 

 sinclairii comes into flower. It first appears on the hill-sides in the bush 

 near tufts of Astelia, where there is rich mould. A week later Pterostylis 

 truUifolia is in full flower in rocky places on patches of moss. This is a 

 common plant in damp places on the sides of fern hills. 



During the last week in June Corysanthes rivularis begins to appear in 

 damp places near the foot of forest hills, and later, along the banks of 

 mountain streams. All these orchids continue through the month of 

 July. 



In August Corysanthes macrantha, C. oblonga and C. triloba can be found 

 in flower. They affect high ground on the borders of heavy bush-land and 

 grow best in rich black mould. ■ Their purple flowers are warnings that the 

 rarest orchids are about to appear and may disappear also in the same 

 month of September. The rare orchids are Cyrtostylis oblonga, Pterostylis 

 puberula and Pterostylis squamata. They all grow on low hills covered 

 with fern (Pteris aquilina) and tea-tree {Leptospermum scoparium), but are 

 not equally abundant. 



