Strand. SE 
there may be Phormium tenax, Scirpus nodosus, and excepting south of about 
latitude 43°, Mariscus ustulatus and Lobelia anceps. 
The terrace bounding the shingle shore, being both more stable and less 
halophytic, possesses a more varied plant-covering. P. fenax, either in clumps, 
or as a continuous belt is a fairly common feature. ‘On Cuvier Island it is 
mixed with Arundo; in South Canterbury it forms for a considerable distance 
a more or less continuous girdle; at Big Bay and Paringa (South Westland), 
this belt is so near the sea that, in rough weather, it arrests the floating drift- 
wood. Muehlenbeckta complexa, as a mat-plant, is a common feature of terraces 
or high foreshores, and such mats favour the settlement of other plants e. g.. 
Rhagodia nutans, Linum monogynum, Senecio lautus, and at the present time 
certain introduced species. The following are some of the more common species 
of shingle or boulder terrace: — Pferidium esculentum, Scirpus nodosus, Carex 
‚testacea, Acaena novae-zelandiae, Oxalis corniculata, Linum monogynum, Eu- 
Phorbia Er Pimelea prostrata, Leptospermum scoparium, Apium prostratum, 
Dichondra repens, Cassinia leptophylla or retorta according to latitude. The 
prostrate form of the wind-tolerating tree Myoporum laetum occurs on boulder 
banks at Moko Hinou and Cuvier Islands, North Auckland district. 
The following shingle beaches require special mention: — ı. The Nineteen 
Mile Beach, N. ofthe R. Rakaia (Eastern district). This consists of loose shingle, 
small stones and sand. Above high-water mark the surface is flat, thence it 
sinks to the base of a terrace making a hollow into which debris is carried 
by extra high tides. The shingle is thin, flat and averages perhaps 13>xXıo cm. 
Plant-colonization begins here, the first comer, favoured by the sand, being 
Calystegia soldanella, and the next, Apzium prostratum which grows, at times, 
amongst the drift-wood. Other species are: — Carer fumda, Polygonum 
aviculare (introduced), Chenopodium glaucum var. ambiguum and Senecio lautus. 
The face of the terrace is steep and composed of loose shingle mixed with a 
good deal of sand. At a short distance beneath the surface, it is quite moist. 
Its plant-covering is open and consists of most of the species occurring on the 
summit of the terrace. This, some 40 m broad, has a downward slope land- 
wards until the surface becomes so much depressed as to be swampy. A 
grass-girdle 20 m wide, consisting largely of introduced species, extends from 
the swamp to the open vegetation of the upper terrace. Here the principal 
plants are: — Raoulia lutescens, a mat or low cushion-plant of dense habit, 
and two leafless shrubs which form round mats of terete (Muehlenbeckia ephe- 
droides), or flat, (Carmichaelia prona) stems. These three are normally species 
of river-bed or stony steppe and are subalpine as wellas lowland. The aerial 
Shoots of the Muehlenbeckia are annual and their decay makes a soil in which 
certain plants become established, e. g. — low tussocks of Poa caespitosa, small 22, 
cushions 4—5 cm in diam. of Colodbanthus Muelleri,' Senecio lautus and A 
and Anagallis arvensis, in this manner, the girdle of : assland has bee: 
formed, More abundant. than the e grey eir ur nat ii 
together with the introduced Holcus lanatus, Silene anglica, Sonchus arvensis 
irdle 
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