THE SCARLET MISTLETOE.

Grey River Argus, 8 December 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE SCARLET MISTLETOE.

AND OTHER BUSH BLOOMS. (By “Elma o to Manu. ”) Oh. when I am safe in my sylvan home, I tread on the pride of Greece ami ; And when 1 am st'etched beneath the pines. / Where the evening star >o holy shines, I laugh at th lore and pride of Man, At the sophist schools ami learned clan. For what an* they all. in their high When Man in the bush with God mav meet ? R. W. Emerson The old-time English Christmas dinner is associated with cold snowy weather and hot roasts, .and at the inevitable party afterwards the Mistle too bough was usually hung in a much laughing and blushing the dam seis were kissed by their dashing partners. The English plant grows on soft wooded trees and occasionally on handy position. Under this with oak trees ami the Druids in Ancient Britain held it in gr< at veneration. There are several members of this family of plants in New Zealand, Hr most commonly known being the scar-let-flowered variety which grows high up on the birch trees making a bright blaze in the New Zealand summer sunshine. Just now in the Greymouth district these flowers are beginning to show up against the green foliage of the black birch (properly called beech). It is fairly common on the trees near Arthur’s Pass and tourists and others mistakenly refer to it aRata; which is also plentiful in that locality. Most Coasters are familiar with that lofty elmbor the Gighee as it is com nenil.Y called. It has masses of strong flaxy-like foliage and produces a fruit which is very sweet, at least the flesh;, bract or holder of the fruit is the part that is eaten. This may be found now in the local bush am sampled by the uninitiated. The name lilighee is a European corruption ol ] the Maori name Kie-kie and is only one example rtf many such corruption l . [ The Hi.naii is .very common in out

I f,.resist and is presently showing it

flow which is a very beaut if u* creamy colour growing in sprays like the Lily of the Valley. This plant is abundant in the Ohl Marsden Road bush reserve, ami may be seen from the roadway. The old time Alaori considered the fruit very precious and ii was used in various ways in Maori diet. The bark of the Hinau contains a very strong black dye. Although the Pohutukawa, that famous member, of the Rata family does not grow in the South Island forest-; one is to be seen in a local garden, that of the late Air Richmond, who was a lover of native shrubs and trees. Tt is well in bud now and should be in full bloom very soon. It is a very fine specimen growing straight ami tall though this is no* its habit in its native province o ? Auckland, where it grows clinging to the side of cliffs with twisted roots and branches dipping into the sea Eminent botanists have called it “the most magnificent plant in the New Zealand Flora.” Maori tradition has it that when the canoes of the great migration arrived in the North, th Pohutukawa was in bloom; thus if is we know their arrival was about Christmas time.