WILD SPECIES

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 85, 7 October 1933, Page 15

WILD SPECIES

LIMITED HABITAT

BLUFF HILL COWS

Some New Zealand wild plants were tamed long ago. In many cases, a type of a species, or perhaps a hybrid between species, was taken from the wilds and was tamed by being planted in a nursery. That type was propagated by cuttings, which means that new plants, remained true to type. In Nature plants we propagated by seed, and results ot propagation by seed vary. The.nurseryman, propagating by cuttings, knows what he is going to produce. He does not know .quite what Nature, propagating by seed, is going to produce It was recently stated by a botanist in Auckland that a type of Olearia Haastii was common in England, having been popularised thiough nuiseiics and gardens; and it was a type which would be difficult (pefbaps impossible) to find today in its' nativo New Zealand. In; this, country tho ordei of succession by. seed'has gone on in the very limited area where Olearia Haastii is indigenous and in its -wild stated—the higher valleys of the-Southern Alps and two mountains ia Otago at from 1500 to 4500 feet .elevation., Cbee&eman says it is apparently a rare and local plant seldom seen in "any quantity. Putting the matter in a meiely pop* lar way, without verging on the tech* nical,, it may be. said that thore ia a plant-succession of the uuiscry and a plant-succession of Nature; a cutting propagation that docs not vary and a seed propagation.that may vary (often does); s tamo order and a wild order. Both are wanted. Wild life presents fascinating problems of variation, evolution; of variation due to environment (including differences of elevation, aspect, shelter, soil, etc.); of hybridism. Hybridism is so active in New Zealand wild life as to become a botanic.subject in itself. Oleana aiigustii'olia (tcte-a-weka) is dc«cnbcd in "The Ticcs of New Zeahnd" (by Di. L. Cookajne, C.M.G., F.U.S., and Mi. E. Phillips Turner, R.F.G.S.) us being found wild ou the shofes of Wtcnait Island and ou the South jlsland mainland "in a tow localities from the base of Bluff Hill westwards to Piescrvation Inlet."

It is understood that today these place's on the mainland are- veiy few indeed, and that the people of Invercargili and .the, Bluff poss.ess a. great privilege :in . the groves, .of. Olearia augustifolia. on Bluff Hill —a privilege which, so few imainlanders in the south possess that the. people.of Invercargill and the Bluff, might be suspected of a careful guardianship :of the Olearia augustifolia on Bluff ;Hill. But no sign of such guardianship could be seen by a Wellington botanist when he was on the Bluff Hill lately. Instead, be 'found that cows were allowed to graze on and destroy', the unique , coastal vegetation there. He expresses the opinion that.. same protective steps should bo taken to prevent Olearia augustifolia from disappearing from the mainTaiTdr""

The plant is offered for. sale in some New Zealand nursery catalogues, and its hold on the nurseries-and gardens iis not-likely to be shaken, off, but the ! preservation' of this species, and many other, similarly limited species, in their I wild/state should be a national as well as. a- local objective. Olearia augustifolia is catalogued as "a very handsome species, with'- deep .purple disc florets;- highly perfumed; height 5 feet."1 • r ' ;

1 The wild tree.may grow to a:height of-10 to 15 feet;'aid the flower-heads have n diameter of from ]r inches to 2 inches, according to the CockayneT'h'ilHps book. ■'~ ••