Vegetation and flora of Sail Rock, Hen and Chickens Islands

Summary Sail Rock appears to be the least modified of the small islands so far described from the Hauraki Gulf, northern New Zealand. The four communities mapped can be correlated with sites of differing stability; a vegetation of Disphyma australe and Muehlenbeckia complexa on cliffs, Coprosma repens scrub on unstable slopes of fine talus, Corynocarpus laevigatus forest on an unstable slope of boulders, and Paratrophis banksii‐Melicope ternata forest on a semistable talus slope. The composition of the island's vegetation, compared to other islands, can be related to lack of disturbance by fire and the absence on Sail Rock of the kiore or Polynesian rat ( Rattus exulans ). Although small, the island can be used as part of a discontinuous control area for studying the effects of this rat on the flora, fauna, and structure of New Zealand coastal communities.