III.— B OTAN Y, 



Art. XL VII. — On the Botany of the Pirongia Mountain. 

 By T. F Cheeseman, F.L.S. 

 [Read before the Auckland Institute, 30th June, 1879.] 

 Eesidents and travellers in the Waikato and Waipa districts are all well 

 acquainted with the picturesque Ph-ongia Mountain. As Hochstetter well 

 remarks: — " This ancient dilapidated volcano" '•'• * * " with its many- 

 peaks and ravines" gives to the Waipa country its characteristic scenery. 

 " The eye never tires of gazing at it, as it always assumes new forms from 

 each new point of view." 



None of our early naturahsts appear to have investigated the flora of 

 the mountain. This is the more singular, as it is easily ascended and is 

 in close proximity to the Waipa river, — before the Maori war, a recognized 

 highway into the interior of the country. Dr. Dieffenbach certainly passed 

 over a portion of the mountain in 1841, but it does not appear that he 

 made any collections on the occasion. Dr. Hochstetter, when journeying 

 up the Waipa Valley, in 1859, turned out of his way to climb the much 

 lower and — in every respect — less interesting hill Kakepuku, but made no 

 attempt to ascend Pirongia. Suice then the Maori difficulty practically 

 closed the mountain to Em-opeans until quite recent times. The following 

 remarks are based upon notes made during two ascents, in January 1877 

 and January 1879, and must be understood as referring to the eastern and 

 central parts of the mountain only, as on both occasions I failed to pene- 

 trate to the western side (partly through want of time and the impracti- 

 cable nature of the vegetation to be passed through after the first summit 

 is reached ; and, on the last ascent, partly through opposition raised by the 

 Maoris. At some future time, I hope to examine the remainder of the 

 mountain, and possibly to give a sketch of its entire flora, — to a knowledge 

 of which the present paper is only a slight contribution. 



Pirongia is an extinct trachyte cone, standing on the west side of the 

 Waipa river, almost directly opposite the township of Alexandra. Its 

 highest peaks attain an altitude of 2830 feet, but the range of which it is 

 the culminating point maintains for some distance both to the north and 

 south an average height of over 1000 feet. A continuation of the ridge 



