526 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
[Vol. io, 
busy and delightful one. I am also greatly indebted to Dr. Cockayne for a 
large number of photographs, some of which are included in the present 
article. 
The journey across from Christchurch was intensely interesting. The 
Canterbury plain and the lower slopes of the mountains adjoining were 
barren-looking, with little vegetation except tussocks of coarse grass, the 
principal species being Festuca Novae Zealandeae and Poa caespitosa, the 
former predominating. 
As the train proceeded, there was a sudden change in the vegetation, 
marking the beginning of the rainy western district. The bare grassland 
suddenly stopped and the train entered a region of heavily wooded moun¬ 
tains, the forest being composed almost exclusively of the mountain beech, 
Nothofagus Cliffortioides. This forest is very dense, and there is little under¬ 
growth, but the trees are much lower than those seen in the beech forest 
near Wellington. In exposed situations the mountain beech may be re¬ 
duced to the dimensions of a shrub. 
Arthur’s Pass, the summit of the road, is of about 3000 feet elevation, and 
from this point the increasing moisture on the west side of the mountains 
becomes more and more evident. The country around the pass is an open, 
more or less rocky moorland, with no large trees, but with extensive thickets 
of shrubs and stunted trees along the roadside and in the more sheltered 
places. Two conifers, Libocedrus Bidwillii and Phyllocladus alpinus, belong 
to this sub-alpine region, but only the latter was seen by me, a shrub with 
leaf-like cladodes like those of the species seen in the North Island. 
The sub-alpine scrub is composed of many species, among which shrubby 
Compositae play an important role. Among these Olearia,' Senecio, and 
Traversia take first place. The genus Olearia is highly developed in New 
Zealand; it comprises a number of species with showy flowers, and 0 . 
ilicifolia has handsome glossy, holly-like leaves. Several species of Veronica 
are also common, and vary a good deal in appearance, some having rather 
conspicuous thick leaves, others small, closely imbricated ones, like a 
cypress. Many of the hundred New Zealand species have racemes of 
showy blue or purple flowers, and are common in cultivation. 
Much the most striking member of the sub-alpine scrub is a small tree, 
strongly resembling a Yucca or Dracaena, but in reality belonging to the 
Epacridaceae. This is Dracophyllum Traversii, very common along the 
roadside and certain to attract the attention of the most casual traveler. 
The narrow Yucca-like leaves are reddish in color and at once catch the eye. 
The genus is exclusively Australasian, except for certain species in New 
Caledonia. 
Other characteristic plants of the scrub were a leafless leguminous shrub, 
Carmichaelia sp., and Pseudopanax lineare. On banks along the roadside 
the mountain flax, Phormium Colensoi , was abundant, a smaller plant than 
P. tenax. 
