Mo^'iiO. — Gcorjraplilccd Boluiiij of JScIson (oid 2Iaylborou[/h. 1G7 



Large aud liaiidsome Baniuicull spread out their glossy yellow petals to 

 tlie sun. Different varieties of Gentian show their spikes of whitish 

 flowers. The Walilenlergia saxicola recalls the Harebell of our native woods. 

 The quaint-looking CraspecUa exhibits its ball of blossoms on the top of a 

 tall and slender stem ; aud the silvery petals of the JRaoulia are seen 

 studded like stars over the surface of compact masses of vegetation that 

 might be taken at the first glance for moss. But the characteristic plants of 

 this zone are the different varieties of Celmisia. The number of these is 

 immense ; and as they all carry conspicuous, daisy-like flowers, from the 

 Celmisia coriacea, the blossom of which is as large as a five-shilling-piece, 

 down to the slender Celmisia gracilenta, the alpine heights during the long 

 days of summer are really quite gay Avith colour. 



In enumerating the blossoming plants of that zone, we must not forget 

 the shrubs. There is the Hoheria, for instance, growing in the gullies, a 

 most graceful shrub, carrying a great abundance of conspicuous drooping 

 white flowers. There is the Gaultlieria, the closest relative to our native 

 heath of anything that grows in the country ; various species of shrubby 

 Seiiecios ; the dwarf CarmichcBlias, with the large pea-shaped blossoms, 

 lying close to the ground ; the quaint-looking Ozothammi,s wdth its glossy 

 green tuberculated branches and terminal yellow flowers ; and chief of all, 

 a great variety of most beautiful dwarf Veronicas, symmetrical in the 

 extreme, bright in their foliage, some bearing spikes, others flat heads of 

 blossoms, but all of them conspicuous and charming objects. Higher than 

 most of the others are the different species of Tlilaspi, plants of the 

 cruciferous order, some of them deliciously fragrant ; and highest of all is 

 that strange looking plant of the composite family, the Saastia, which is 

 seen where nothing else grows, on the bare slopes of gravel, looking like 

 a large globular mass of white felt, not unfrequently mistaken for a stray 

 sheep. 



In addition to those I have mentioned, the botanical explorer of the 

 alpine regions will find, of course, a great number of other plants of 

 interest, and doubtless some still new to science. I have said nothing of the 

 Gnap}ialii(,ms^ of the vai'ieties of the Violet, the ISpilohimn, the Spear-grass 

 (Aciphjlla) , the JEujjhrasia, or the different species of Orchis, which are to 

 be found on the mountains ; but I trust I have said enough to satisfy the 

 reader that the alpine botany of New Zealand possesses its own special 

 characteristics, has a physiognomy entirely different from that of the sea 

 levels, and offers to the lovers of natural objects a most interesting field 

 of exploration. 



I find it impossible to refer to the subject of the alpine botany of Xew 

 Zealand ajDart from the memory of the late Dr. AndrcAV Sinclair. In 



