OUR LITERARY CORNER.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12503, 26 May 1906, Page 7

OUR LITERARY CORNER.

POPULAR KEW ZEALAND BOTANY.* .^,.

. «- mr L Gocsatnt. Ph.D., Cor. F.B.S. < UT E<l.) y oW Zealand essentially art agricultural countiy. For the inhabitant of such a know!o<l2e. of botany it- of prime im ,,ortanc>. the lifehiitories of *>*- and other plants, the names, u« and properties of fotlder pfnnt.s'aud cereals, tho chemit-try and physics <>f the soil, a knowledge of topv-t tiv , S native and exotic, and. above all. a g*''nr-ral acquaintance with physiology—-ill tlK'.-e matters are of tho KreaU-.-tlmportanee for a farming community. Tho branch of science has i<ach<:d a far higher state of perfection in iKitany than in zoology, and pl.int physiology f-he<k much light, on tiic lii'e-prt!cc---v's of human beings. Vow Zealand us undoubtedly one of the. most, intcif-ting botanical regions on the f-ict , of the globe. Foreign botanists of eminence visit it to ptudy pha-e:s of plant life not to bo found elsewhere. I's plnnts offer problems, the investigation of which may lead to great benefits for the human race. Moreover, itflora is unique, but, alas, rapidly) changing before. civilisation. Although much valuable work has Wn accomplished with regard +o Now Zealand phut*, merely a. has been juado a.s yi t. Our colony, as a portion of the civilised world, has to play it.-, part in tho advancement of knowledge eniiallv with tho acquisition of woalth, if it ifi to occupy a foremcet plaw amongst tlio nations; and it is a national duty to make known as fully c* possible its natural history. Of tuch, botany is to ur the most important branch. And yet to nearly everybody this science- Is a dead k'tter. llierero thousands, indeed, who do not know the namo of a singlo plant, let nlone its habits, or who do not realise that but for plant life, animal lifo would be non-existent. Botany ifi hardly taught, at all in our schools, nnd few spend any portion of their leisure in its fascinating pursuit. Without going uepply into tbo reason for this truly deplorable state of affairs, two facts stand out prominently. Tho one, that tho teachers in our schools know little or nothing of tho subject as a rule. Tho second, and this is in part a cause of tlio first-named rcaaon, that up to the present no books of a distinctly popular character have existed which could enable, a non-botanist to get any information regarding our plants. This last desideratum is now no longer lacking. Thanks to tho laudable enterprise of Mc&srs Whitoombe and Tombs, a moot attractive, work, which cannot fail to bo a factor for great good, has just appeared, written by Mr R. Laing, B.Sc, and .Miss E. W. Blackwell. A few years ago the production of fiiich a book as the above would have been impcenible. But, through the great advances mado in photography, it is a matter oS comparative ease to photograph plants in their natural habitats exactly ne they are growing. i>3 important has tho camera become of recent years in botanical science that it may be claimed to hold the eamo position for the plant geographer as the microscope for the histologist. With tho application of photography and physiological experiments on. the plants, combined with accurate field investigations, a new branch of botany called ecology haa eomo into being during the last few years. For this important advance science is largely indebted to tho OermaiLs, and the names of Schimper, Goebel. Stahl, Wksner, and Schcnck efcand forth prominently. France, in tho pensorm of Flahault and Bonnier, ha.s contributed her share, and tho Dane, Warming, also holds as high a pomitio.r* as any; but at the back of the movement and its true founder is the illustrious Englishman, Charles Darwin. This new botany studies plants, not as dried or dead material, but as living organisms, whose forms depend upon fhieir relation to tho outer world and upon their past histories. A moment's thought will show how -wide-reaching is euch a study. A plant is no longer held as a fixed and immutable creation. Its organs can bo changed or modified, pomotiraes profoundly,' by subjecting them to new condition*, and time knowWgo be ncquired as to how their social form and structure came into being. Hereditary tendencies, latent in the plant, can be evoked by certain stimuli, or kept in abeyance, by otheis. Tho relations of organisms" with regard to light, heat, gravity, and other factors can be estimated." The facts gained, •R'hflßo hilk accumulate* little by little, ennbla profound generalisations to be drawn and elowly lead nearer to a knowledge of the more intimate- phenomena of life. Scattered through the thirty-seven volumes of the "Transactions <>f the New Zealand Institute," and in the voluminoue writings oF various European botanists, aro a certain number of ecological ob-ervation. , ' regarding New Zealand plants. Some of these- Mr Laing —for it is an open secret the mattor of the book is his work—has collected together, and, with much patience and ureat skill, has extracted their ' Kernels, translating them, where requisite, into everyday langunge. In other won!>, he has given a popular ex-po-ition of some portions of New Zrannd this it is which distinguishes t(i<> txiok under review from We which mizht have bee-n published, *ay._ fifteen years jinr>- Rome of tho fletailflirfiich the work introduces to the layman should him greatly. ThtiK. he is made acquainted with tho fact that the mangrove, unable to get a supply cf oxyceu out of the sl-imy mud J!i which its ro<;ts ramify, haf» developed » special _ breathing apparatus. This consists of highly roots which project into the air, growing upwards instead of downwnrds as any root Kjiould do. And this fact w empha*:>«l by a photo of a mangrove swamp Growing; thm> breathing roots ("pueu"jetophoroß.' , a.i Jo>t lias styled them), T »uyj by dozons out of tho'mnd. In another place, thnt interesting of Plants called "halophytes" (salt plants) « dealt with, whose particular bent is to Rr«w in f-pot.s where there is too much *'lf for tho well-being of most plants, ?JK;h as the Bait mvadoivs near New "nghton. Tlioro th, , ! ;: .lo P }.ytes thrive. »«t alUioiiyli mo-t have their root« in very wet ground, somo being actualJv 'D swamp— -0.5:., n.n-x litorosa—thev »avo <1..--v.-1,-p.,d K p«cial adaptations ••Ra'Mt drought, fimv, for som. mwxl>lainrd reason, they nro unable to- u«e a Wffieient quantity of th.> wamr n"Z l * nU , °; X(,,v /-rai.uul. K. -M. L a i,,,>

ORIGINAL AND SELECTED MATTER.

NOTES ON BOOKS AND AUTHORS

for then- needs. Mr Laing Kin<jt the epace to tell us of other c:ap.-c(? of plants which ar-.> doorm.d, like- Tnntalup. to t!ii;>: P'Tp'-tually in the midst of liquid. iSuch are many Now Zcala-id bo; , ; plants, wii'.ch an ■so constructed that th:y can grow equally well in th" arid fpots. Very c:')ld water. t"<>, r. q-iirtM its plant inhabitants to l>"> p:of« ctrl a;:;iiii<t or to l.v.iv" ; -x"r<>|'hyt:e adaptation-." to u-e 1 !.r ic-'bui: , ii term. In ih.> icy writers "': tl; ,, -I^!!".-- ,- -on the Wf.v-t Const n;.-i'l t-:iat \v."!ir.juked x'-rophyt--, tb" .Spnniard 'Ac:I'hvila Col(:ii><-;i). y:> com! , ..nil <;n 7ii'>iititain The I >- ■ ■ •. 11 *: 11: L t.u!)-alp,i:e wLl'owherh (Epi'xb::im i.ir.cvc11U-), a o/iiMiKni plant ct ccid uro'ik , -. Erew f.iinously Ln, my f:j: - mor N' '•'■' Uright'}!!. car.!") on tlu , ji'iis'vt <iic-ti sir f:ifi- <:( a <!ry rr,';k L rv. built of biiek, in the full Mni-hliu , ! Kilt it. niu-; not \m tlionj.'Sit from tin , above that ••J'liint« of Ne-.v '/,jihi-id" i> a compihitif v. On tho contKuy. rliis work may nndinibtcdly c'aini u> be cm original aii<l valuaolr- eont i iou; i i;i i ;> science. while tint p i: t tirarir.i; ot the oripin and affinities of t,he f[r,rn. would require con.-id.-iatifin from nv.v lvitan'st d.alint; with that ihluc-'i!* fjufplion. Mo t inipirtatit- are th • pngos d scu «-ius t'lir , uc* <"" thr> flora. llc-i\< Mr Lnin:?; pevk^—and rightly, I cor.'-;'der—1:> kliow thnt th--- Ni-w Zealand flora 's nnt a sp-.-f-iaKy artci-'iit one. II:>, hC'V.-rvcr, oiu'.-i to ur.'ntir:i thi , variou-i t.i\;u!< and 1 lie Ic.iini (A'xaHii-) a.s anUiU.L'-t th • ancient typ-'s. Hepxtrding thi.s latter, it ii.ay inti-re-t some to !<Nirn that fcw»il ojiicp of a plant rlrsi'ly nllic-d to the kauri h;ive ])v,-n <li-c-!n-Vrrd in th-. , . Statf of New York. Pmfos-or K. €. Jefliey. of Harvard, has Ix'cn ?« , c<l a.s to -end mo a phe/ograph of this ii!ic\stor of our pine, and the r<>cmbLanee bi.-twien the two mo.st striking. Some ten papjre of the bonk are d<- ,- voted to explaining the broad principles of botanj - . For tl'.e ino>t part th<' oxplanntion is as adequate -is could Iμ , expected in Mich a conden.-ed form, but. surely, something should have b'.'cn Miid regarding such a vital function an n-r-pir-fition. Tlio old term "assimilation" is used to the mannl.ioture of carltohydratos in tho c< , !Ls of tlu» leaf in the presence of .sunlight, but th«> nowor and moro appropriate term, "photosynthesis," would have- been preterftble. Tho grtviter part of the book consists of a more or less continuous account of Fome of tho sjxfieis of New Zealand flowering plants, with the exception of tho grasses, srclgos, rush<« and Rustionaceaj. As the gras>o»s are iho most important of our economic plants, it eeeme rather a pity they have been excluded, but doubtless want of Kpnco in this caw* oleo forbade. Conciso eciontiiic details are given regarding the families, genera, and species dealt with, and -the>o may bo understood on reference to the glossary at tho end of the book. The plants selected for special treatment are treated in a pleasing and popular manner, and something is said as to their ecology a.nd uses, while Maori lore in ite connection with plant lifo is not lacking. Tho illustrations ware, a striking feature of the book, and aro of a highclnfcs. Generally speaking, tho pictures showing the plants in situ are tho beet. The. view of a beerh forest on page 131 is exquisite, nnd a fitting companion to Mr Laing'e brilliant page of word-painting. In hhiw oases more details as to tho photos would have boon welcomed. Thus, in tho ono entitled "A Giant Kauri," if tho different plants had been enumerated an accurate picture of a piece of kauri forest would have been put on record. As it is, few would know that the tree, overhanging the human figure is Dracophyllum latifolium, the gra-s----liko plants in tho foreground Galuiia xanthocarpa, the trunk on the right that of the nikau palnu and high up the central kauri, the epiphytic Astelia Solandri. Another very fine photo is that .of a colony of vegetnblo sheep, Raoulia eximia, but incorrectly named R. mamillaris, a pardonable error, since botanists have long lteen divided in opinion a.s to its correct designation. Two beautiful picturts aro the New Ze:i.land edelweiss end its relation, Helichrvsum bellidioidos. The North Island edelweiss, H. leontopodium, r.ot figured, is, however, perhaps tho loveliest of New Zealand* flowering plants. That wonderful plant, H. conalloide-, of tho "Ivaikoura Mountains, is dealt with but Mir I/aing" is evidently unaware that in 1890 Lazniewski described and figured its minute structure, misnnming. however, tlio plant H. SeLago, .although the life-sizG figure ho gives is unmistakable. The clarification is that of Engler and Prantl's "PflaiiKOiifiimilien," now aimost univeraailly adopted in ptelc-r----ence to the older system of lientham and Hooke-r. of the spec fie name* aro accurate. Tliero aro only ons o>two flips, such as Knphrasia antarotici for E. zelnndica. Oentiama. eaxo-a for G. bellidit'olia. The correct manner of writiug the specific n ime is adopted. and not that abominab'e •and -incorrect method used in thu Transactions or the New Zealand Tnstituto, and forbidden by 'the rultv of botanical nomenclature of all countries. I refp-r to writing tho genitive of a Latin tse.i proper name with a small letter, a*> nookeri fi>r Hookeri. Aβ far as popular names ore concerned, the authors have sought to meet the public demand for such. This i.« a most thankless task, and h.iK cilwuys LX'en a stumbling block, and probably always will remain one. "Wlien there i« ft largo genus, such do or Veronica, the one with oO and tho other with 80 or 90 how : e Ji fiiiviblo na-mo to bo coined for each? Spailwell in tho Knglish and koromiko the Manri equivalent for veronica, but namm are generic ihni speciiic, and even with diff.ivnt adjecti\v« could not be fitted to tlu , whole ninety. ic ir» a common fashion to dimply translate the Latin name, and thi- hns been done hy Bentlnm in the I?rirsh Flora and by many other py-tcniat*»?■*. The authoie of '•Plants of New Zealand have followed this example. Tue fe , lowing names, amongst cthen*, re.--uit, and 1 Ihink feiv readers wild conider them a euccose. o-r any improvement for popular purposes on the Latin names:—Tho Marginate Luzuriaga," "The Intermediate Dianclla," "Die Brexia-like Ixerba." "The Naked Ph>haliuin,'' "The Downy Kara, - ' "ftie Savago Tjnucewood,' , "Th" Doubtful 1.0----bflia," 'Tho Brea-sted Raoulia." "The Blushing Convolvulus. ,, Now, 1 nm nyt in the len.st brijiging up this roatiter in a captious Tho cjueMion of popular names is of high importanco regarding tho popularisation of botany. "When such names have been evolved naturally, they nro frequently excellentLawyer, Spaniard. Cctto".plant. Red-pine, I-a.ne..'wo«>d. Lac--bnrk. M'n.tai, Kowhai, Miro, are oa-p't-il, and with many others have come tr> ft\y. But whero no popular name ox:>ts, it really to let well l>e. and for th<? V-tudent to loam the Lntin O"t»j which h:i.s a definite application, ar.d a universal us-" , , and menij.in.ii ivr se is not of the slighrcst importance. It curious in this re card how the public, once having k-arnt- an unenutli ecientific name, use no other. Fuchs a,

Dahlia, Chrysanthemum, Rhododendron, Geranium, Calceolaria, are everyday words. Even where so excellent a name as Snapdragon exists, dozens persist in calling those pro ty flowens Antirrhinums, while the Cuinci-e Primrcs. , is to meet the Chineoe Primula. Many other matters beyond briefly touched on in this article arc .suggested by Mr La ing's and ML-s Blackwell's admirable l>ook, but space is limited. I can only conclude by faying, that »\- ---though a popular work on any fcicuce is the hardt.st thing in the world to write, and that probably the idea! popular lnv>k will nevr be written, tho one under is excellent, and should be in the hand i 1 i-vi'iy r.a in re-lover in New Zealand. Let r.f hope, too, it is the fore-runner or many lutiire popular wori;s, which, lik> it. shall bring before the people the wond.-rs of the plant world which siir-n.'und-s them, and which but f»'w appreciate at tiieir true value. Aljso, it is to l>. l wi-h;d. thnt this bo >k shall s:imu- ]■)•»• lr.rmy to study the IK-nutitul science ef i>ot;mv in earnest, and that by doing ''Tin , Plants of New Zealnid" >ha!i become a factor in the proKpori'y of 'he ctloiiv. .Should these thins* '" .some measure b;* brought about, th-.> authors of thi-- pioneer work will not have laboured in vain !