206 BOTANY 
New Zealand Lowland Forests are as a rule of an 
essentially tropical nature. True rain-forests, they 
reach their greatest perfection at the foot of the western 
slopes of the Southern Alps, where the rainfall is 
ereatest. 
Generally speaking, these are mixed forests, and 
consist of several strata of vegetation, composed of a 
great variety of species. The topmost layer consists of 
lofty trees, the next of the lower trees and tallest 
IL. Cockayne, Ph.D., F.R.S., photo 
Rain Forest (kauri), North Auckland. 
shrubs, the third of the undergrowth of tree ferns and 
low shrubs, and the last of the mosses, filmy ferns, and 
other shade-loving vegetation that clothe the forest 
floor. The abundance of epiphytes comprising orchids 
and astelias, as well as several ferns, shrubs, and small 
trees, and the profusion of lianes like the kiekie, 
supplejack, rata, and parsonsia, all go to emphasize the 
truly tropical character of the New Zealand rain- 
forest. In the northern part of New Zealand, some- 
times one and sometimes another is the dominant 
species. Now it is the tawa, now the kohekohe, now 
