342 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [July 
The Indigenous Forests of the Hanmer Area. 
In order to estimate the likelihood of establishing forest by means of 
seed shed by trees which may be planted for that, purpose it seems well 
in the first place to give some account of the original distribution of the 
indigenous forests of the Hanmer area and of their composition. Regard¬ 
ing the distribution of the South Island forests in general, nothing stands 
out more clearly than the fact pointed out by L. Cockayne in various 
papers, “that the distribution of forest and grassland in the Southern 
Alps and other eastern ranges is in absolute harmony with the distri¬ 
bution of the western rainfall, and that there v is a line extending from 
the north to the south of the South Island where the mighty forest of the 
west gives place all on a sudden to tussock-grassland.” This line of 
demarcation between tussock and grassland lies considerably to the west 
of Hanmer Plains. This, however, does not mean that forest does not 
occur to the east of the continuous western forest, or that a monotonous 
uniformity distinguishes the plant-covering of the mountain valleys and 
slopes in the tussock area. On the contrary, the mountains adjacent to 
the Hanmer Plains show a marked difference in their floras as we proceed 
east or west. Many species, for instance, are present in abundance on 
Mount Percival which are wanting on Mount Miromiro, and vice versa , 
though the two mountains are distant approximately only ten miles from 
each other, Mount Miromiro being the more westerly. 
The presence of forest rather than of grassland depends, as may be 
gathered from what has gone before, upon the climate, and more especially 
upon the rainfall, or, rather, upon the average annual number of rainy 
days. But aspect, by regulating evaporation, may furnish local forest "condi¬ 
tions, so that forest almost identical with that of the west may flourish in 
isolated patches—often of considerable size—in the eastern grassland area. 
This happened originally to no small degree on the Hanmer mountains, 
although much that was originally forest is through the settlers’ acci¬ 
dental or premeditated burning now tussock-grassland pure and simple. 
Such grassland at first sight might well be considered primitive, but 
evidently it is a plant association induced by fire followed by sheep-grazmg. 
Generally speaking, in the Hanmer mountains every deep gully and 
many of the adjacent southward-facing slopes carried forest, and so too 
did many shady slopes. Even yet there are considerable areas of such 
forest, and every transition may be seen between forest and grassland. 
The plant-covering consists, so far as high forest goes, of certain 
species of southern-beech (Nothofagus) . To the west of the area— i.e ., 
where the maximum of rainy days occurs—the species are Nothofagus 
cliffortioides, N. fusca, N. Solanderi, and, to a smaller extent, N. Menziesii 
and N. Blairii. A more important constituent from the forestry stand¬ 
point is the thin-barked totara, Podocarpus Hallii. There are many other 
trees and shrubs, a list of which I propose to publish in another place. 
The total number of species contained in the Hanmer indigenous plant¬ 
covering is 485, which belong to 55 orders and 160 genera. Taking the 
growth-forms, 10 are trees above 40 ft. high, 10 trees generally of small 
stature, 9 woody climbing-plants, 3 parasites, 426 shrubs, herbs, and 
semi-woody plants, and 27 ferns and fern allies. The presence of the last- 
mentioned group and of a considerable number of the other species denotes 
conditions much wetter than those which exotic trees demand—conditions 
which would be of great advantage in the establishment and spread of 
such trees. It must not be forgotten, however, that the conditions of 
the forest interior depend in large measure upon the evergreen character 
of the trees and shrubs, and lead, inter alia , to a remarkably uniform 
environment at all seasons of the year. 
