220 Transactions. — Botany. 



A brief account of the plants observed during the ascent of Mount 

 Anglem, the highest peak of the island, will serve as a fitting introduction 

 to the alpine portion of the flora. 



Landing at Sentry Point, our track led through a swampy forest, with 

 large specimens of red pine and other trees, interlaced with supplejack. 

 Tree-ferns were numerous, but restricted to two species, Hemitelia smithii 

 and Dicksonia squarrosa, their trunks often shrouded with a luxuriant growth 

 of filmy ferns. 



The ascent at first was very gentle, the supplejack (Rhipogonum scandens) 

 did not ascend above 200 feet, and the tree-ferns disappeared below 400 feet. 

 The timber gradually became of smaller dimensions, and at about 1,000 feet 

 on the ridges the forest was to a large extent replaced by Leptospermum 

 scrub, with solitary plants of Drosera stenopetala and Ehrharta thomsonii 

 in moist places. In the gullies large timber occurred up to 1,700 feet 

 or higher. Still ascending, Leptospermum scoparium gradually assumed 

 an arboreal habit, but none of the trees exceeded 25 feet in height, 

 although the trunks were from l'-2' in diameter. Progress was 

 very easy up to 1,500 feet, when a tangled belt of Olearia colensoi, 

 Dacrydium colensoi, and other shrubs, interspersed with inclined ratas 

 (Metrosideros lucida) formed an almost impenetrable barrier, although rarely 

 exceeding 15'-20' in height. The branches were so closely interlaced that 

 it was impossible to break through them, while they were so tough and 

 elastic that our tomahawks were useless. Under these circumstances our 

 progress was extremely slow, and in no way favoured by the continuous 

 heavy rain. The vertical range of this belt did not exceed 800 or 900 

 feet, but it required four hours of excessively fatiguing work to force our 

 way through ; on the ridge of the spur the scrub was only breast high and 

 offered less difficulty. From this point the ascent of the last slope was 

 comparatively easy, except in a few hollows where the scrub attained 8 or 10 

 feet in height and was excessively dense. In many places it was varied by 

 large patches of open peaty land studded with alpine plants — Celmisia discolor, 

 Forstera sedifolia, Donatia novce-zealandice, Phyllachne clavigera, Dracophyllum 

 rosmarinifolium, and a remarkable prostrate form of D. scoparium, Carpha 

 alpina, etc., etc. ; owing to mingled hail, rain, and sleet at this elevation 

 but little could be made out beyond the point on which we stood for the 

 moment. At about 2,700 feet Dracophyllum menziesii, one of the most 

 remarkable species of the genus, was collected ; it attains the height of from 

 1' to 3' with the habit of a miniature D. latifolium, the native branches 

 terminating in an almost globose head of recurved leaves with several 

 racemes of waxy white flowers springing from beneath: the flowers are 

 the largest in the genus. In swampy places near the crest of the slope 



