STUDY OF N.Z. FLORA

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28169, 7 January 1957, Page 6

STUDY OF N.Z. FLORA

“Profitable” Work For Future

“I am sure that in the future a study of the history of the New Zealand flora, got from investigations in recent geological and seabed changes, will prove most profitable,” said Dr. Harry Godwin, F.R.S., head of the department of quaternary research at Cambridge University, yesterday. “All that is wanted is support by the university colleges and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research for such a study.” Dr. Godwin is visiting the Dominion under the sponsorship of the British Council and the University of New Zealand. Later this month he will attend the Dunedin conference of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science. The quaternary period. Dr. Godwin’s field of study, covers the last million years and includes all the glaciations. The vegetation of the British Isles was influenced very profoundly by the glaciations, said Dr. Godwin, and they also influenced the present distribution of plants and animals. The same could hold good for New Zealand.

Dr. Godwin’s own special field of research—the study of pollens deposited in peat bogs—could also provide information on the history of New Zealand flora, he said. It could give a picture of what the ancient plant cover was like.

Travelling recently on the West Coast, Dr. Godwin was particularly interested in examining swamp forests on deep peat deposits and he considers that the terrace lands of the West Coast were once covered with swamp forests. Crossing into Canterbury, he found the contrast in vegetation cover fantastic, he said. Cass Environment

Dr. Godwin spent a week at the Canterbury Univerpity biological field station at Cass. This environment was most interesting, said Dr. Godwin, on account of the altitudinal range of plant cover and the rainfall range. Thus, many biological and plant problems could be studied. The New Zealand flora had evolved in vastly different conditions from British flora, yet even at Cass striking evidence was seen that where bush was cleared, and grazing or cultivation took place, British herbaceous plants invaded such areas and were often the dominant plants, he said. ‘‘There appears to have been no native counterpart to this herbaceous flora and such alien plants are now found even among the scree slopes, often at considerable height,” said Dr Godwin. Many Biitish universities had biological stations along the lines of that at Cass, he said, although not many would have been established as long, nor would many have such a rich environment for study. Such stations were a very good thing for biological and zoological field work, Dr. Godwin said.