UNKNOWN.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 212, 23 July 1887, Page 4

UNKNOWN .

;(BV S. N. Adams.)

<&*T-my trip 'last year to colledt plontfes-and *seeds of our Alpine flora, I was unable <to do movo than explore the 'Rolleston Range and the valleys in the vicinity of Moa Creek, but I sawsnough to make me wish to excmine the Higher Alps at Browning's Bass and -Mount Harman, in the Davie district, the heads of the valicyof the Wdlberforee. I was accompanied on my second trip by a friend who took an interest in •native plants, and who prided himself in the ' possession of a marc by Totara which justified her pedigree by taking us from Christchurch to-the foot of Porter's Pass, 52 miles, 'in one day, and to the Moa Flat, overa difficult road, by 11 o'clock on the following night. The Wilberforco and Moa were ciossed in the dark, .and we narrowly es- • caped a capsize. -The Wilberforce, rising at Mount Harman, is one of the largest tributaries of the Rakaia, drains the Birdwood Ranjge on the light, and Mount Algidus, Cascade Range, Mount Griffith, Mount Pack, and Twin Peaks on tho left. From the Harper river westwards, there is a scried of creeks flow- ■ ing into the Wilberforce ; on the right boundary, Fen Hill, Bristed Burnett, Weka, and Cronin ; from the other side the Boulderstone, Kakapo, Kiwi Moa, Unknown, Griffiths, Clifford, and many smaller ones. The lnrger creeks are fed by snowiields and glacieis, and the fall being great, the velocity and foicc of, the water is almost incredible to those acquainted with the rivers of the plains only. Tho beds of the mountain ton ents aie filled with boulders, which make them dangerous to ford, even when not in tiood, and when it is considered that working up the valley of the Wilberloice all thebt streams have to be negotiated, it will be conceded that plant collecting in such a country is not carried on without danger. .Wednesday was spent in a visit to the North Creek, the locality of my collecting trip last year, and having got a quantity of Ranunculus Lyallii we packed them to the. island where we had left tho trap. On Thursday we made an early start for Mount Haiman and Biowning's Pa<-s. The first few miles of the road run over a well graVsed flat, thW^V covered with herbaceous Alpine plaX-s Coprosmas, with red berries, being ple;*r.iul. On the left there .are severu' line waterfalls, and a cascade from which' the range takes it name ; on the left heavy bush for a considerable distance up the Bliste<l Creek, which z'ises among broken ground and falls into the Wilberforce. Mount Sebastopol stands in the centre of the valley causing the Wilberforce to turn several points to the northwaul. The country between the Griffiths and Clifford Creeks is very rough — a combination of high cliff, shingle slides and big boulders— and we made slow progress as far as the hut of the roadmen. There we ascertained the direction of the surveyor's camp, but as it became dark and ix snowbtoim set imwe had a bad time of it. By the aid of a bull's-eye wo .searched for the camp over terraces, spurs, and boulders, through scrub and an occasional fast rising creek, until midnight, when we saw a light on the opposite side of Cronin Creek, which turned out 'to be the desired place of shelter, whcie we arrived in an exhausted condition. Mr McClure made us welcome, and we soon revived under tho cheering influences of hoc tea, mutton chops, and a roaring fire. The. next morning we started for Mount Harman over a very rouerh track, in fact, what little track had been made by the. miners .going to the reef had been coveied with a recant fall of snow. We, however, persevered in the right direction, and at length saw a rope hanging over a vertical cliff. Here we had to practice a little gymnastics by going up hand over hand, .when we landed at the mouth of the tunnel which is expected to tap the reef. After inspecting the progress of the mining operations we returned to the lower slopes of the mountain and began to search for plants. A patch of Ranunculus Godleyanus was met with in full bloom. The beauty of its golden cups set in green leaves surrounded by snow may be imagined. Our next prize .was an Exarrhena, growing in bare phingle. The plant was not in bloom, but 'judging from the flower r aceme, 'four inches long, it must be a line example of this new section of the Forget-me-not family. The plant was carefuUy,collected,andthe seed secured. A new Veronica was found creeping over the shingle. It had massive capitate heads, the leaves being round and fleshy. A plant which may be referred to, Gnaphalium or Celmisia, was also collected. It grew about two inches high, its leaves and stems being densely covered with woolly hairs. The Edclweis was very abundant at this elevation. Lower down the slopes a fine variety of Gentiana saxosa was seen in full flower. Carmichielia .odorata, with white blooms like a miniature pea, was occasionally met with, whilst Senecio Lynllii, both white and yellow, were plentiful. Ranunculus Lyallii was.sp prevalent that the large leaves completely aovered the mountain side like a dark green carpet. The bloom was past, but the nwribjer of dead flower stems testified that we vwere too late to see the great Alpine "Floral Exhibition, which had been held in January. The scenery about the head waters of the Wilberforae on the 'Westland boundary is of a true Alpine obataeter— glaciers snowfields, and huge blocks of ice crashing continually down the elopes into the gullies, giving one the impression that nature is actively at work with her giant Frost in great contrast to the other side of tihe range, where, in the gorge of the Olrra., she works silently with water, clothing barren mountain sides with luxuriawt vegetation — iAie Arctic reigons and the tropics within a. few miles of each other. Returning to Cr>onin Creek, we .noticed good specimens of Senecio Bidwillii, Olearia elfeagnifoliue, Copr.asm.as, and the Mountain Totara, a species of the yew family, which would flourish -even in Siberia. Onusia macrocarpa covered terraces, where water continually trickled at its roots through the porous soil. Hymenophyllum, villosujn and multifidum, tv, o of the hardy filmy ferns, grew on trees and in sheltered spots on the ground. The rocks are covered with elmisia bellidioides, which throws up its daisy -like flowers in profusion, whilst the handsome fern, Hypolepis millcefolium, peeps from beneath, its netlike fronds seeming too fragile to stand the cold of this Ar*ctic region. Of the Myrsines I collected three species — M. divaricata, four feet high, a straggling bush with white berries, another with pink berries, which I am unable to make out, and M. Montana, ten feet, sparingly branched with dark red berries, These Myrsines are plentiful from Moa Creek to Browning's Pass, and they with the Dracophyllum urvilleanum, called the Mountain Heather, and the Coprosmas, compose the Alpine scrub on the banks of the creeks and river beds. The Alpine Coprosmas are a most puzzling genus to the botanist, and Sir J. D. Hooker himself confesses his inability to reduce them to definite oixlev until he has

facalitaes tliitn is -afforded by dried spe «cimina They depart from the general rule that plants became dwarf er according to the a'ltifcud* tit "which ' they grow, as I found the stti'aft ' creeping species at low ■elevations And the tall ones a thousand feet •above. The flqwfcrs are inconspicuous, but they are followed -by translucent berries— -white, bliie, torAn^e, red, crimson and black. Some -species are densely leafy, with bright green leaves, among which | grange and eranson berried glitter in thu sun ; 'CtLhap, like C. lucida, are sparingly •leafy, but' the wliite berries are so thickly set on the branches that they look like masses of pearls. The little C. repens, •■which 'carpets the ground, produces -the largest berries, which are like red ourrants. These berries are greedily eaten by kakas iihd paroquets. The Coprosmas .are allied to the coffee plant, and the roasted nuts form a good substitute for the genuine article. The species collected sveie as follows : — C. .pumila, half-an-inch high, white berries, in the river-bed of the Wilbei force, among stones ; C. repens, covering the .ground, with large -crimson berries, among the tussocks at Moa Flat.; C. microcarjia, a shrub six feet high, small white berrie-, growing at the margin of the hxibh near the mouth -of the Moa, at an elevation of 2,391 feet ; C acerosa, with blue berries, Mas common from the Wilberforce to the North Creek; C. parvilioua, six to eight feet high, orange berries thickly produced, branches drooping with the weight of fiuit, plant .growing on baulks of North Creek in stony soil ; C. propingua, six to eight feat, orange red berries wa~ common from Noith Creek up to No. 5 Creek, and I saw occasional plants of this variety at the margin of the bush up the Wilberforce to Cronin Creek, 5/'OO ieai. C. ftetielissima, 10 feet, black berries, wa« prevalent up to the same altitude. The Exharrhenas are similar in foliage to the Myosotis, but the flowers are campanulate. They arc rare, specimens of them being seldom met with. I collected E. Lyalli growing at 0,000 foet in a shingle slip of slate on Mount Harman. The lea\ es are dark green covered with hairs, the flower stem is 3 to 4 inches high, and the flowers are arranged on a forked raceme. Many of the Gaultherias are heavy bearing plants and shrubs, others piocluee flowers like the Arbutus. G. antipoda, the Snowberry, grows 2 to 3 inches higli, ci eep.iug along the ground ; the leaves are small bub the white berries are the size of large peas. There are many varieties of antipoda, some .have pink berries, otheiß dirieient tints of red; those with pink beiries are very scarce. G. rupestris, which is quite of different habib oncl growth, has spiay* of white flowers. It forms a neat s-hrub about two feet high ; the leaves are small, a half inch long .and a quarter inch broad. It is very plentiful from North Creek to Browning's Pass. The Aciphyllas— Spaniard's speargrass or bayonet plants, as they are variously termed form no 'inconsiderable portion of the tubAlpine and Alpine \ egetafcion. "When the tussock disappears the aciphylla takes itsplace, and often provokes the anathema oi the traveller from the impassibility of avoiding the -sharp points of the leaves. The dwarf species. are found above the /one of forest as high as 6,ooofeet, growing in stony soil covered with a thin layer of decayed vegetation. -All the ppecies are difficult to collect,, as -the loiig fleshy roots penetrate deeply into the porous material. But if properly managed they can be established ami transferred to the rockery, wheie they soon form .handsome specimens. A. squarrosa, of the plains, was met with in the Harper river bed, and A. Lryallii, was abundant from Porter's Pass to Unknown Creek. A. Colensoi, ■vvrbh ibs "fcniplifc green fanshaped leaves, about two feet long, was seen occasionally -from 3000 to 4000 feet, and the dwarf A. Munroi .above that altitude. I collected A. Uobsonii on Mount Harmon, at 0000 feet ; it resembles the last named species, but its leaves are only two inches long, very stiff, And the plant forms a patch not more than thr-ee indies high. An undescribed species, with red midribs and spine?, is a very handsome plant, another having fan-shaped leaves, 3 feet high and 0 feet through. A third I collected at No. o Creek differs from the otlters .considerably ; the leaves ar.e liaear, and of a light-green colour. A. variety of Grentiana aaxosa was collected with leaves like a rosette, bearing immense heaels of large white flowers. Geums we met with in sheltered corners ; the flowers are poor, but the dark green bronzed foliage makes the plant attractive. Veronicas, Lyallii, Bidwillii and Cinifolia, were seen but the latter species was scarce As there were signs of bad weather, we packed up the plants and seeds collected, and started from Browning's Pass on Saturday morning for home. The nor'-wester overtook us at Moa Flat, but we managed to ford the Wilberforce and Harper before they rose, and taking the Glen Tunnel Road from Lake Coleridge we reached Christchurch at midday on Monday. The number of plants collected was 1,017 and 40 species of seeds.