NEW ZEALAND PLANTS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 4461, 24 October 1933, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND PLANTS

GREAT POTENTIALITIES | PROSPECTS OF EXPERIMENTAL BREEDING Whole-hearted support for the suggestion of the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, that by experimental cultivation some New Zealand native flowers might be brought to the 'magnificence of the daffodil, was expressed by Mr J. A. M'Pherson, curator of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, says the Press. The work was one for which he was personally enthusiastic, and he considered that New Zealand plants offered a wonderful field for such experiment. There were great opportunities, not so much with trees as with the "New Zealand herbaceous plants, said Mr M'Pherson. Though the flowers of these were often beautiful, they were unprepossessing, often being small and hidden in the foliage. These factors, which were often combined with a lack of striking colour, gave rise to a tendency on the part of the average gardener to •neglect them altogether. But if by 'experimental cultivation it was possible to improve them there would be no doubt of their popularity. "As far back as 1923, when I was 'in Paris, I was astonished at the number of varieties French nurserymen had raised from the ordinary red koromiko (veronica speeiosa)," ■— l think they called it Garibaldihe said. "One variety in particular was really very fine. At the time 1 thought that if they could do this with veronica it could quite easily be done with other New Zealand plants.

"In South America they have an burisia (primrose) with scarlet flowers. All the New Zealand variteies have white flowers, but if we 'could get into them the colour of the South American variety we should have a magnificent flower. It might even excel the Chinese primulas.

"If anyone took up the crossing of New Zealand plants with the idea of getting new colour and types of 'growth, he would have to take one section first, say, the veronicas or the ourisias, and patiently concentrate on that. Our little calceolaria (now called Jovellana) is a most interesting garden plant. If the size of the flower could be improved that would be a great step towards popularising it. The New Zealand ranunculus or mountain lily also would repay experiment, as would the clematis, some of the overseas varieties of which have a bigger and better leaf and more robust habit.

"It will be no easy task, and it Will demand a tremendous amount Of patience," Mr M'Pherson continued. "A hundred and one technical difficulties about plant breeding will crop up. The person who will succeed will be the one who works to attain a definite end. The day of haphazard crossing has gone by the board, for it has been too amply proved that such work is mere 'of time.

"The work is not of a kind to be undertaken by the ordinary amateur. It can be undertaken with hope of success only by one who has a definite knowledge of the technicalities of plant breeding. The work of the Plant Breeding Station at Palmerston North, of Lincoln College, 'and of the Wheat Research Institute has done much to make the ordinary man realise that there is such a thing as plant breeding, and that it is important. Of course, one of the difficulties at present is that everybody is so busy at present making a living that there is little time to spare for specialised experimental Work."