THE BEECH FAMILY 133 



Unlike most of the other New Zealand trees, the beeches 

 form great forests in which few other plants are to be found. 

 Ordinarily, the bush is extremely varied. Sometimes as many 

 as forty or fifty species of trees and shi'ubs can be found in an 

 acre of ground, — a greater variety than exists in the whole of 

 the British Isles. In Europe, on the contrary, one or two 

 species of trees generally constitute the greater part of the 

 forest. Amongst these, the beech may be mentioned as a 

 dominant form. Fossil evidence seems to show that the oak 

 in many places has given way to it. We know too little of 

 the past history of New Zealand, to enable us to determine if 

 the beech forests are on the increase or decrease here. Dr. 

 Cockayne considers that their distribution tends to show that 

 they are decreasing. This may be so, but beech forests that 

 have been cut out, if left undisturbed by man and animals, 

 will soon replace themselves. Other forest-forming trees do 

 not do this. The kauri, at least, is decadent, and the white 

 pine forests are largely confined to swainps, which often dry up 

 on the felling of the bush. AVhereas the beeches are found both 

 in wet and dry lands; though they seem to prefer the drier 

 slopes of the mountains. 



N. cliffortioides is a sub-alpine species only coming down to 

 sea-level in south-western Otago. N. Menziesii is found at 

 similar levels from Hauraki Gulf southward. N. Solandri is 

 perhaps the most abundant of our beeches, and forms immense 

 forests, particularly in drier situations, throughout the islands 

 as far north as the East Cape. On the dry eastern slopes of 

 the Canterbury ranges there is little else to be found in the 

 forests. N. fusca is more sparsely distributed throughout the 

 islands, being found in wetter situations. It is rarer in 

 Canterbury Province than m any other, though found m 

 small quantity on Banks Peninsula. One remarkable feature 

 in connection with the distribution of the beeches, is then- 

 total absence from Stewart Island. This is qmte inexphcable 



