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Forest Vines to Snow Tussocks: The Story of New Zealand Plants

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The Auckland Islands are currently credited with 187 native vascular plant species,160,161 of which perhaps 6 are endemic and a further 22 are page 207found elsewhere only on other subantarctic islands in the New Zealand region.

The relative richness of the Auckland Islands' flora compared with Macquarie reflects partly their lower latitude (51°S); partly their larger size (the main Auckland Island and the barely separated Adams Island are about 50 km long by 10-30 km wide); and partly a less severe climate during the last glaciation which probably allowed some of the previous interglacial flora to survive. The last is also likely to be true of the Campbell and Antipodes Islands.

The Auckland Islands also contrast topographically with Macquarie in having a very indented eastern coastline and, between the glacially steepened valleys, mostly gradual slopes leading up to ridges and distinct peaks, sometimes flat-topped, up to 668 m in altitude (Fig. 116).

Figure 116 General view of the Auckland Islands from the south. There is a coastal fringe of southern rata forest (Metrosideros umbellata) and above that, shrubland with 'lanes', then alpine vegetation.Photo: P. N. Johnson.

Figure 116 General view of the Auckland Islands from the south. There is a coastal fringe of southern rata forest (Metrosideros umbellata) and above that, shrubland with 'lanes', then alpine vegetation.
Photo: P. N. Johnson.