SITE CHARACTERISTICS AND POPULATION STRUCTURES OF THE ENDANGERED SHRUB OLEARIA-POLIFA (WILSON ET GARNOCK-JONES), NELSON, NEW-ZEALAND

The endangered shrub Olearia polita occurs only locally in the Moutere Depression, south Nelson, where it is confined to poorly drained allu vial and toe slope sites on soils derived partly from Tertiary materia l of a type which is also localised in the area. Most of the indigenou s vegetation has been cleared from this substrate, and O. polita survi ves only in several small forest remnants. These are dominated by Noth ofagus menziesii, but there are several shrub species present which in dicate that the soils are more fertile than those on the surrounding h ill country. O. polita stem size class distributions and seed ling fre quencies indicate an adequate capacity to regenerate given favourable site conditions. Further decline of O. polita could be halted by the e stablish ment of reserves of toe slopes and alluvial sites sufficientl y large to accomodate landscape processes such as flooding and slumpin g.