| leaves or a few 5 in sheltered parts of, the shrub. 
The Biology of the Coastal Plants. 61 
amy is impossible and there is perfect correlation between shedding of pollen, 
trapping of this in the indusium peculiar to the Goodeniaceae and eventual 
protrusion of the stigma and its pollination by a fly. 
3. Seasonal changes. 
Speaking of New Zealand generally the distinction between the seasons 
is far less marked than in the N. temperate zone. Deciduous trees &c. are 
not only very few in number but they play, as a rule, little part in the 
vegetation, and summergreen herbs too are of trifling account. Thus the 
changes that strike the eye depend chiefly upon blossoming and fruit-ripening. 
But since so large a proportion of the species produce inconspicuous flowers 
and fruits, the effect is generally slight and the winter-aspect of forest, heath, 
steppe and dune is not strikingly different from that of midsummer. Here 
as in the other chapters devoted to biology, the matter of flowering receives 
special prominence, but the treatment is of the briefest. Further, it must be 
remembered, that the differences in time of blooming are quite considerable 
in passing from N. to S., or in certain parts from E. to W. so that much 
latitude must be given to general statements. 
From about the end of May to the beginning of August the maximum | 
period of rest is reached by the coastal plants, and in many of the species no 
growth of any moment is taking place. But even in the middle of June certain 
plants of a coastal forest may be in bloom in the Northern and Central pro- 
vinces e. g., Drümys axillaris, Dysoxylum spectabile, Coprosma grandifolia and 
Leptospermum scoparium. The vegetation of salt-swamps and salt-meadows, 
where frosts are frequent, will be more or less browned, while the aerial parts 
of Atropis stricta, Scirpus americanus and S. robustus will be dead and those 
of Salicornia australis partially so. The rounded bushes of Plagianthus di = 
varıcatus will have assumed a blacker mi for then they are either bare 
N commence to open Peas we so that the 
n the 
w Beier 2; Be 5 
By the end of £ I 
