Grass and Herb Formations, 233 
raised noticeably above the level of the floor and perhaps average about 70 cm 
long by 60 cm broad and 10—ı2 cm deep; when dry, the colour is greyish- 
white on account of the numerous dry hairs, but when moist they have a 
greener shade. The cushions may join and form amorphous masses or they 
may be separated by a carpet of herbs. Within, the moss is dead and full 
of moisture. Usually some of the carpet plants much buried by the moss 
grow as epiphytes, but they fail to obtain complete possession. On some parts 
of the mountain these moss-cushions are absent and, in their place, are abundant 
patches of a yellowish-green moss. 
Tussocks of Danthonia Raoulii are abundant. Brown bushes of Draco- 
phyllum filifolium, about ı2 cm high, form broad, erect patches perhaps 
60><4o cm in area. Flat-topped yellowish cushions of the shrub Cassinza 
Vawilliersii ı7 cm high and 27 cm in diam., are common, and there are 
many small bushes of Veronica buxifolia conspicuous with its bright-green 
leaves and bare, leaf-scarred stems. Everywhere, in January, the plant- 
covering is marked by the beautiful white whorls of flowers of Ourisia ma- 
crophylla, 27 cm or so high rising from the rosettes of pale-green, purple-edged 
leaves. 
The groundwork of the association consists principally of the following 
low-growing herbs and shrubs: — Aymenophyllum multfidum, Lycopodium 
fastigiatum, Danthonia semiannularis var. setifolia, Anısotome aromatica, Gaul- 
theria depressa, Coprosma «repens, C. ramulosa, Forstera Bidwillu, Celmisia 
longifolia var. major, C. glandulosa, Raoulia glabra, Helichrysum bellidioides 
var. prostratum and Cotula squalida. 
t about ı300 m altitude, Ranunculus nivicola Bine abundant, its 
lee flowers giving a special stamp to the association. Drapetes 
Dieffenbachii appears and soon becomes a most important member of the 
a the shrubs and the tussock gradually gives out; Celmisia longifolia var. 
ajor becomes, in places so abundant as to form silyery patches; and Poa 
_Colensoi ER of moment. This association might quite well be called 
herb-field. Its presence depends upon a much longer covering of snow than 
that to which the tussock is subjected. Gradually, it gets more and more 
open, as the altitude increases, until there is the scoria-vegetation already 
described under the heading “shingle-slip”"). 
The South Island Mountains. Red tussock steppe in the South Island 
denotes a colder or wetter situation than low tussock steppe. In the South 
tago district it may be continuous with that of the lowland and montane 
belts but further N. it rarely descends much below 600 m altitude. Sphag- 
num moor is readily occupied by Danthonia Raoulii and so turned into steppe. 
In some places it replaces low tussock-steppe at a higher altitude. The species 
1) The following species are also more or less common: Oreobolus pectinatus, Tatil 3 
Jans: var., Dlechnum penna marina, Hydrocotyle novas-selandiar ‚ Geranium eg Ores 
myrrhis a var., Epilobium PER ee, 
