88 Transactions. 



• 

 Perliaps no part of tlie island has been so closely examined for plants as 



tlie district between Wbangarei and tbe INTortt Cape. It is, therefore, not 



improbable that some of the forms wMcli I have attempted to discriminate 



in this paper may have been observed by other botanists, although I am 



ignorant of such observations having been published. 



Aet. X. — On the Botany of tlie Great Barrier Island. By T. Kirk. 



The Great Barrier Island presents but few physical features calculated to 

 exercise a marked influence on the character of its flora : the central and 

 northern parts of the island are excessively broken into deep gullies and 

 ravines, by the low mountain ranges which intersect them in various direc- 

 tions, nearly the whole of which are covered with forest to their highest 

 peaks, 2,300 to 2,400 feet, leaving but small patches of open country. The 

 hills in the southern part of the island are of much lower elevation, and 

 there is a larger extent of fern land. Much of the land, however, is of 

 barren quality, and, on the whole, offers a less varied vegetation than in the 

 north. 



On the eastern coast there is a considerable tract of sand dunes and 

 swamps, where a few peculiar plants may be found. 



The general character of the bush greatly resembles that of the main 

 land north of Auckland, its chief points of difference being the scarcity of 

 the Tarairi, Nesodaplme tar air i, and the great abundance of Panax Sinclair ii, 

 which is found from the sea level to the crests of the ranges. The prevalent 

 trees are Nesodaphie taiva, Bammara ausiralis, Persoonia toro, Weinviannia 

 silvicola, Bacrydium ctqjressinion, Metrosideros lucida, M. tomentosa, Beptos- 

 permitm ericoides, Vitex littoralis, Cori/nocarpus Icevigata, Elceocarpus dentatus, 

 Bysoxylum spectahile, Kniylitia cxcelsa, &c., &c., with the arborescent ferns 

 Gyathea medullaris and G. dealhata. 



On the higher parts of the ranges, Ixerha brexioides, Bacryditmi colensoi, 

 Bacrydium, n.H., Pliyllocladus glauea, Bpacris sinclairii (which here attains 

 the height of 12 feet), Metrosideros albijlora, Olearia, sp., and Bracophyllum 

 latifolium, are chiefly found. Archeria raceinosa, which is supposed to be 

 peculiar to the island, is very local, and only found between 800 and 2,000 

 feet of elevation. 



Most of the ordinary sand plants are found on the eastern coast : 

 Go)ivolvolics soldanella, Besmosclioenus spiiralis, Sjyini/'ex hirsutus, Goprosma 

 acerosa, are abundant ; as is also the naturalized Paplianus sativus. Atriplex 

 hillardieri and an undescribed \_MeUcytus'] Symenanthera with finely reticu» 

 late leaves are also found her©. 



