ITS LAST STAND?

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 110, 5 November 1937, Page 7

ITS LAST STAND?

ISLAND SANCTUARY,

POOR KNIGHTS LILY

AND MERYTA (PUKANUI)

Concerning the preservation of rare New Zealand plants, and recent correspondence -thereon, Mr. Johannes Andersen points, out thatr.efforts of individuals to preserve, by cultivation, a rare wild plant, may b£ well advised or ill advised. '"When people learn that a plant is rare they at once havt a desire to possess it—and that, ,too . often, as has teen noted in England, is a first step towards its extinction. That, of. course, is when it is. difficult to induce the wilding to become a fosterling; when it pines on being removed from the wilds it adorned. There are not a few plants that were at one time rare in New Zealand whicli are now common enough; beauty, added! to rarity, has ensured their future existence. Might I specify on« or two New Zealand,plants that were once rare, but are so no longer?—this may help to add to the general interest in the efforts of those who ar« working for the preservation of yel others of our distinctive plants. ' A LAKGE LEAFED ISLANDER. "Firstly, there is that striking ahi handsome plant of tropical appearanca —Meryta Sinclairii, the pukahui, or paddle-leaf, with its great, thick, glossy, dark-green leaves up to fifteen or even twenty inches in length, exclusive of the stalk, their shape, somewhat like a South Sea island paddle, suggesting the name paddle-teaf. The second half of the Latin namo was given in honour of that ill-fated young botanist Dr. Andrew Sinclair/-who v/as drbwned.in the Upper Hangitata River in 1861 while exploring that country with Julius Haast, later Sir Julius yon Haast. This tree was known to g£ow only on the outlying islands on the north and north-east coast of New Zealand-^-Three Kings and Hen and Chickens— nor was it very common there. Tha only specimen known on the mainland was found .at Paparaumu, in Whangaruru Harbour, immediately west of tha Poor Knights Islands, where' it had been planted by the Maoris, and the specimens taken .from .this tree were the ones on which the' species was founded by that great botanist Sir Joseph Hooker, who wrote the first systematic account'- of the New- Zealand flora, published in ,1867.. It ha* never been known to be. indigenous on any .part of the mainland, and Cheeseman said of it: 'It must be considered as one of the rarest species of the New Zealand flora.' Yet what is the; position' now? So handsome is. the treo, though-the small green 'flower is insignificant, and so easily is it grown, that,it is scattered far and wide in New Zealand, and has become quite common. Dr. Cockayne considered it among the elite of the New Zealand flora, and thought it'would grow in any of the' coastal towns, except Christchurch—and hundreds of garden lovers show they agree with him. D. Tannock, of Dunedin, gives it 'three lines in his "Practical Gardening," and says: 'It makes a good lawn specimen in th« north, but tender in the south.' AN OLD FORM IN RETREAT? ; 'The tree is of great interest to th« botanist as well as to thegardener; for, seeing that it grows so easily in so many locations, the question' suggests itself: Had the tree once lived on the mainland and retreated before other vegetation, taking its last stand in the off-shore islands, or was it a newcomer on the islands.that:in time: would have invaded the mainland and become common there?—in short was it an'old-form near extinction or a new one preparing for extension? : ■•'■-■-s; ; "Striking as this instance is, there is another yet;more striking. Kirk'considered the pukanui the rarest tree in the world; but in 1924 was discovered, in the Poor Knights Islands, north,, of the Hen and Chickens, a plant.rarer still, which, though common on the rocky faces there is not known to occur at all elsewhere in New Zealand. Moreover, there is only one other species of it known in the world, and that one is confined to New Caledonia. The Poor Knights plant was given a name barbarous enough to ensure its being at once forgotten—Xeronema Callistemon. I propose to call it the Poor Knights lily as an easy means of speaking of it and haying some' chance of being listened to when I do so. "Other species of the genus to which the pukanui belongs are also, strange to.say, found in New Caledonia; most, of the species known are found there, odd ones occurring in various Polynesian Islands, and one, the pukahui, in New Zealand. But of the Poor Knights lily only two species are known: one in New Caledonia and one in New Zealand. Yet what has been done to make it known, either in writing or in propagation, beyond a couple of pages of description with three illustrations in a science journal? Nothing. SCIENCE AND THE GARDENER. "Garden lovers like a rare plant; here is one that, with its flax-like leaves and red flower, might become popular as a rockery novelty; besides which, it would be discovered that.it would flourish as readily as the pukanui. Science is content to 'give it a clumsy name,' describe it, and leave it at that. "In an article in Volume 57 of the same Journal (Trans, of the New Zealand Institute), Arnold Wall has an article on the distribution of certain rare New Zealand plants which present a.puzzle to botanists. In this he refers to the case, of: the Poor Knights lily, and concludes that it as what he calls 'relict endemism,' and that such species cannot possibly be conceived as 'new.' That is, he answers the question I put above by concluding the plant is taking its last stand: not that it is in its first flush. !"I have touched,on one of the conundrums of botany. There,are many of them; real 'intellect sharpeners,' and there is no bookwith answers'except the one that propounds the conundrums!" Mr. Andersen proceeds to raise ' ■ similar question concerning the youth or antiquity, of New Zealand beech forests. His remarks under this head will appear later. 1 Only one married couple out of 11,000 in Britain, live to celebrate their diamond wedding.