9G 



In this district they may he roughly divided into, Ericetal, or plants of the 

 open land, and Sylvestral, or woodland plants, which would almost equally 

 divide the total number of plants between them. The first of these divisions 

 readily admits of sub-division, and the following terms have been adopted for 

 the different groups. 



* 1. Littoral. Plants of the sea-shore, whether growing on sandy or 

 muddy beaches, as Convolvulus Soldanella, Salicomia indica : on sea-cliffs, as 

 Metrosideros tomentosa ; or in salt-marshes, as Juncus maritimus. 



2. Ericetal. Plants of open dry land, as Leptospermum scoparium, Pteris 

 esculenta. 



3. Pascual. Plants of open grassy land, as Ranunculus plebeius, 

 Cardamine hirsuta. 



4. Rupestral. Plants growing on or amongst rocks, as Cheilanthes 

 iSieberi, Pellcea rotundifolia. 



5. Viatical. Plants growing in waste places, or by road sides, etc., as 

 Polygonum aviculare, Agrostis cemula. 



6. Inundatal. Plants growing on the banks of streams, or in other places 

 liable to frequent inundation, as Oxalis magellanica, Pratia angulata, Lomaria 

 lanceolata. 



7. Paludal. Plants growing in constantly wet soil, or in water, as 

 Epilobium, pallidijlorum, Typha latifolia. 



8. Lacustral. Aquatic plants, whether floating or submerged, as 

 Ranunculus rivularis, Zostera marina. 



9. Sylvestral. Forest or woodland plants, as Dammara australis, 

 Nesodaphne Taioa, Microlaina avenacea. 



There are a few plants whose habitats are so varied, or possibly so complex, 

 that they cannot be fully expressed by a single term ; thus Cardamine hirsuta 

 might with almost equal propriety be classed as Pascual or Sylvestral. 

 Nasturtium pal%istre as Inundatal or Viatical. Podocarpus dacrydioides as 

 Sylvestral or Paludal. Muhlenbeckia comp>lexa as Ericetal or Sylvestral. 



In these and a few other other cases, some allowance must of necessity 

 be made on the score of conciseness. 



The term " Sylvestral " is perhaps the most open to objection, on account 

 of its comprehensiveness, as no distinction is drawn between plants found only 

 in deep forests, as the Kauri, and those found in light scrub, or on the 

 outskirts of forest, as the various species of Clematis ; but the degrees of 

 difference are generally so near that it is extremely difficult to define them, 

 and to adopt terms that can be applied with any approach to precision. The 

 attempt has therefore been abandoned for the present. 



To a certain extent, the above arrangement gives a definite idea of the 

 distribution of each species ; but by the aid of a short series of numbers, 

 greater precision may be gained. The series adopted is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 

 20. A plant with the highest number affixed, is one of the most generally 

 distributed throughout the district, limited only by the nature of its habitat, 

 and (possibly) by altitude. Thus Geniostoma is found in, or on, the margin 

 of almost every patch of bush, however small, as is Leptospermum scoparium 

 on every open hill-side. The lower numbers exhibit comparative rarity. But 

 it must be borne in mind that this notation has reference to the extent of 

 distribution only, and not to relative abundance. The same number is applied 

 to each of the two plants last mentioned, yet if the relative number of 

 individuals could be compared, it would be found less than a single plant of 

 the Geniostoma to ten thousand of the Leptospermum. At the advanced 



* These terms are similar to those introduced by Mr. Watson, in his various works 

 on Phytogeography, but are employed with different limitations. 



