Rock and Cliff. 83: 
an extremely xerophytic station being thus provided. The association consists 
partly of dune-plants (Festuca littoralis, Cofrosma acerosa) and partly of semi- 
subalpine species (Raoulıa australis, Pimelea prostrata). In some places S. of 
the R. Wanganui are larger, flatter rock-surfaces on which are the remains 
of perhaps a rather ancient plant-covering consisting of — Myoporum laetum, 
Dodonaeca viscosa, the small forest-tree Rapanea Urvillei and the divaricating 
frequently subalpine Corokia Cotoneaster. 
Where the rock is cut to a base-level a flat stony desert results. The 
rock-floor is strewn with sand-worn stones and there is a thin covering of small 
gravel and coarse sand. Pimelea prostrata and Coprosma acerosä are dotted 
about everywhere in equal numbers (Plate VII Fig. ıı), and, in the lee of the 
latter, there is generally a tongue of sand (Plate VII Fig. ı2). Silvery cushions 
of Raoulıa australis occur here and there; Spensfer and Scarpus frondosus 
form lines where the sand is finest; there are colonies of Zoysza pungens and 
yellow cushions of Sce/eranthus biflor us. 
2. Celmisia semicordata association (Charle ston, North-western 
district). 
At one A on the coast, the prevailing westerly wind, hemmed in by. 
two adjacent headlands, strikes the summit of the cliff and its immediate vieinity 
with especial force. In consequence, the subtending girdle of forest is first 
dwarfed and then broken through. The rocks at a little distance from the 
‘ edge of the cliff possess a plant-covering physiognomically more like that of 
subalpine rocks than of the coast. The moist climate favours the formation ee 
peat on the rock; possibly a certain amount of spray is carried by the wind 
but it must be soon washed from the soil: The subalpine Celmisia, semicor- 
data is abundant. Other plants present, frequently subalpine, are: — Oreob | 
pectinatus, 0. strictus, Phormium Cookianum, Pimelea longifolia, Sty; Hd: 
uni folia and Senecio belli 
ıt and stunted fi 
