186 Mmiys. 



Various small flowering plants assist to fill up the details of busli scenery, 

 such as the OrclddecB ; while the Cryptogamia, including ferns, mosses, 

 liverworts, lichens, and fungi, cover trees, rocks, and ground with a 

 wonderful variety 'of vegetable form, and present a luxuriance of growth 

 that can only be found under the same conditions of heat and moisture. 



On the margins of forests numerous shrubs are found which never 

 penetrate into their dark recesses, preferring strong light with partial shelter. 

 The shrubs, however, often form independent patches, covering sub- 

 alpine areas, filling gullies, or fringing water-courses. 



Among them will be found plants of great beauty, many of which might 

 be introduced Avith effect in the ornamentation of landscape gardening. 



The snow valleys of the central mountains are seldom timbered on their 

 bottoms, from the shifting nature of the surface from floods, the larger trees 

 being driven to the slopes of the mountains, while a more rapid reproducing 

 plant-growth of shrubs occupies the flats. 



This scrub, as it is termed, is often found impenetrable, both from the 

 closeness of the growth and the presence of spinous plants, such as Discmia . 

 toumatoii, (the wild Irishman) and Acijyhylla sqitarrosa (spear-grass). 

 Some species of shrubs attain their maximum of growth at an altitude 

 where the trees become stunted, such as Seneclo cassinioides, Olearia mosehata, 

 0. nummularifolia, Veronica hectori, &c. 



The shrubs of Otago are included under the genera Clematis, Banuncuhos, 

 Soheria, Aristotelia, Coriaria, CarmichcsUa, Leptospermum, Metrosideros, 

 Myrfus, Acipliylla, Panax, CoroTcia, Coprosma, Olearia, JRiibus, Ozotliamnus, 

 Cassinia, Senecio, Oaultlieria, Cyathodes, Leucopogon, Archeria, Draco- 

 phylluin, Myrsine, Parsonsia, Mitrasacme, Logania, JExarrheiia, Convolvulus, 

 Solanum, Veronica, MuTilenbechia, Pimelea, Urtica, Freycinetia, Bhipogonum, 

 Plfiormium. 



In the geographical distribution of the Otago plants, one striking feature 

 only can be noticed. 



The difference between the flora of the east and west divisions of the 

 province seems to mark them as two distinct regions of plants. The Clutha 

 River forms the natural boundary between, and although one or two genera, 

 such as Fagits, push outposts across the boundary, it can be distinctly traced 

 from the Wanaka Lake to the Nuggets, on the line of the river. 



Some peculiarity seems to exist in the climate of the eastern or Dunediu 

 region, which may perhaps be explained by meteorological observations. 



The character of the Dunedin flora is more of a negative nature, wanting 

 many species vvhich encircle it in a belt, west, south, and east, forming the 

 boundary line of the two regions. 



Under circumstances of adaptation the New Zealand species are wide 



