NATURE NOTES

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22661, 16 March 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES

LOWLAND RIBBONWOOD OR MANATU

(By L. W. McCaskill)

The pupils of the Kumara Junc- , Hon school have asked for a description of lowland ribbonwood. Such a description should be of interest to other schools. In the : grounds of the Waltham and East Christchurch schools grow some very fine specimens, and many schools in Canterbury are planting lowland ribbonwoods for the Centennial native plant scheme. Lowland ribbonwood, known to the botanist as plagianthus betulinus, and to the Maori as manatu, looks more like an introduced plant than a native. This is because the pale green soft leaves resemble those of deciduous trees such as the Bilver birch. This resemblance is recorded in the second part of the botanical name, which means *birch-like.”

calyx and live small greenishyellow petals. Some plants have only stamens about 12 in number, others have only pistils, some have both. This explains why some trees never produce seeds; unless they have some pistillate flowers, seeds cannot develop. Each fruit contains only one seed, which is released by the case splitting down the side.

Where winter frosts are not severe, manatu retains its leaves all the year round; in most parts of the South Island the leaves fall on the approach of winter. Manatu grows readily from seed if it is sown as soon as possible after it is ripe and thoroughly dry. The young plant is quite different from the parent. For the first few years it remains as a mass of

Lowland Ribbonwood. Upper: Leaves and flowers. Lower left: Leaves of young plants

When fully grown, manatu may reach a height of 50ft, with a diameter of up to 2ft. Normally it is much smaller. Most of the other ribbonwoods, such as the mountain ribbonwood, which flowers in January, aftd the North Island and long-leaved ribbonwoods, which are flowering now, owe their beauty to the large size . of their pure white flowers. Those of manatu are small and greenish, -but what they lack in colour they ■ make up for in profusion, and few trees are more graceful than this tree in full flower in late spring. '■The, individual flowers are only : about one quarter of an inch in diameter and consist of a five-lobed

tangled twisting branchlets with small irregularly shaped leaves. If kept trimmed it will remain in this juvenile form indefinitely. In fact, treated in this way, it can be used as a hedge plant. Those who have visited the cricket ground at the Timaru Boys’ High School may remember the fine shelter provided by a hedge of lowland ribbonwood trimmed so as to keep it in the juvenile stage. The early settlers Xound manatu easy timber to split, and used it for rails, shingles, and palings. They soon ceased to use it when they found it was not durable when exposed to the weather or the soil.

The bark is very tough. It can be torn off in long strips and split into layers. The Maoris used it for the manufacture- of nets and for general tying material; sometimes it was used to make capes.