NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB

Evening Star, Issue 23745, 28 November 1940, Page 5

NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB

A DAY IN EVANSDALE GLEN The King’s Birthday was spent by members of the Field Club at Evansdale Glen under ideal weather conditions, the brilliant sunshine and cloudless blue sky making the glen specially beautiful. The day was spent identifying the luxuriant mixed vegetation in the" bush, along the creek bed, and in the gullies. Bird life was surprisingly scarce, but bellbirds wore frequently heard among the fuchsia flowers, and a few friendly tomtits were noted. The fern enthusiasts of the club were not disappointed with what the glen had to offer. The hard ferns, with their two distinct fronds —the foliage frond and the fruiting. frond —were plentiful. Along the track Blechnum fluviatile and Blechnum lanceolatum were conspicuous, and the young fronds of Blechnum caponse in the gullies were beautifully coloured in russet tones. On higher levels the larger erect-growing Blechnum discolor was abundant, the leaves being glossy green above and dull white beneath. In very wet places patches of the largo dull-groen, thick-leaved Blechnum Patersoni were found. The native maidenhair font, with its bare, black stem and dark kidneyshaped sori, was found in two places on the damp, rocky banks of the creek. Water will not lie on the leaves of the maidenhair fern. Other ferns found and identilied were the small-leaved Blechnum ponnamarina, the dark-coloured Pellaea rotundifolia, the hairy, woolly-stemmed, metallicgreen PolystichuOT vestitum, the common Asplenium bulbifcrum (hen and chickens), the sweet-scented Presea scaberula with its finely-divided leaflets, the small trailing fern Asplenium flabellifolium, the two seasonal ferns Hypolepis millefolium and Histiopteris incisa (bush bracken), and colonies of Hymenophyllum demissum were found growing on the floor of the bush. This dainty fern may be identified by its thin stem, feathery fronds free from hairs, with plain, untoolhed margins to the leaflets. Three ground orchids were found. The *' spider ” orchid, with its single rounded leaves lying almost flat against the ground, and lovely dark ruby-red flowers with rounded hoods and long spider-like feelers, were easily found. The sparkling silver undcr-surfaces of the leaf of the spider orchid is worth noting. The tall robust “ Green Helmet ” orchid was fairly common; but only one solitary Caladenia Lyalli was found. The white flower, with faint touches of pink, ■was exquisite in its beauty. On the opposite bank of the creek, free from molestation, a patch of the attractive glossy-leaved shrub daisy, with its profusion of white daisy-like flowers, was seen; also a clump of Maori Anise, with its pinnate leaves and umbels of white flowers. Near the track tlie Climbing Anise, witli its slender, scrambling, leafy stems, was found twinitself round a golden broom; and another climber, the white Parsonia, draped itself over a gnarled broadleaf tree. Melicope simplex, with its flattened leaf stalks, was found growing near a large totara tree in the bush, where the marble tree showed its prettily marked leaves; and the pepper tree, easily distinguished from other shrubs by the bluish colour of the under-surface of the leaf, anpeared frequently. A visit to the Glen would be incomplete without mention of the foxgloves, which are already in flower; and the St. John’s Wort, which in place? threatens to obliterate the Gaek.