144 The Plant Formations. 
exposed to furious gales. Ecologically it is closely allied to the Silver-pine 
association and is rather bog- than swamp-forest. 
The association is clearly characterized by the abundance of the slender 
yellowish-green dimorphic D. zntermedium, its shoots weeping when juvenile, 
the presence of great globe-like bryophyte cushions of Dicranoloma Billardieri 
and Plagiochıla gigantea in extreme abundance measuring 60 cm X 60 cm 
(See Plate XXVIII, Fig. 35), the rich profusion of other mosses and liverworts 
and the numerous green tussocks of Gahnia procera. The tree-trunks are slender 
and close together; Coprosma foetidissima, so characteristic of the adjacent 
dryer forest, is rare; neither tree-ferns nor ordinary ground-ferns are numerous, 
though in gullies there is plenty of Zepfopteris superba. The floor, where the 
moss-cushions do not become dominant, is quite green or yellowish-green with the 
thick bryophyte carpet which also clothes the tree-bases and quite encircles the 
slender trunks. The following are some of the specially important species: — 
(Hepaticae) Aneura eriocaula, A. equitexta, Mastigobryum Mooreanum, Lepidozia 
Taylorı, Plagiochila deltoidea, P. ramosissima, P. strombifolia, Schistochila 
eiliata, S. nobilis, 5. marginata, Trichocolea lanata and T. tomentella: (Musci) 
Dicranoloma Menziesü, D. platycaulon, Hypopterygium PEST Lembo- 
phyllum cochlearifolium, Mniodendron comatum, M. comosum and Sciadocladus 
Menziesü. The moss-cushions are filled with a network of roots from the 
adjacent trees, which thus procure purer water than from the peaty sub- 
stratum. 
The more common woody plants of the undergrowth are: — young Dacry-- 
dium intermedium, young Weinmannia racemosa, Myrtus pedunculata, Notho- 
panax Edgerleyt, N. simplex, Griselinia littoralis, Styphelia acerosa, Suttonia 
 divaricata and Coprosma Colensoi. Small trees of Podocarpus Halli and 
Dacrydium biforme are often present; Enargea parviflora grows in plenty on 
the b ryophyte-cushions; the flat-leaved grass Microlaena avenacea is plentiful; _ 
there are extensive colonies of the plagiotropous fern Gleichenia Cunninghamü 
more than 60cm BE while the other common fern® are Blechnum BP and. 
B. discolor. .s 
e. as (Nothofagus) Free 
ı. General. 
The nd None | is seldom pure, for ads in varying abans 
_ dance.are present, so that there is every transition from a taxad-forest with an 
 occasional tree of one or other of the species of REPBEE to a Be far-. 
mation of this latter. 
ie community dr en occurs in many Inbuntaiioug or my 
distriets, in the Central and Southern botanical provinces. On the Dividing 
‚Range of the North Island and on the southern slopes of Mt. Ruapehu, it 
' forms the bulk of the montane forest which descends almost :to sea-level in 
the S. of Wellington. In the South Island, it forms. the principal forest in 
R Sounds Dee of ee "Büahine-Sounds district. and i in ‚the ae Fi 
