KENNEDY’S BUSH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 14020, 28 March 1906, Page 4

KENNEDY’S BUSH.

DR COCKAYNE’S VISIT. HIS DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANTS. Dr Cockayne is very enthusiastically in favour of the preservation of Kennedy’s Bush, which he describes as a valuable piece of the native flora. After his visit to the hush, in the company of Mr Ell, he gave a reporter a graphic and interesting account of what he had seen. “ Viewed from without,” ho said, “Kennedy’s Bush presents a study in greens. It is a study that is characteristic of the New Zealand forest. There are light greens, glossy greens, yellowish greens and dull greens, and each marks the presence of some particular tree or shrub. High above dense foliage, made denser by the close embrace of climbing plants,_ there me the crowns of pines, the giants of a former forest. In the forest shade younger specimens of these trees are waiting to take the place of those that have gone before. Nearly all the plants are peculiar to New Zealand. Amongst those are the wine-berry, the mingi-mingi, the raramu, the mapou, the lace-bark, which has lovely white flowers, the fuchsia, the mahoe, the ngaio, the ivy-tree, . the pepper-tree, the lemon-wood, the lance-wood, the totara and the matai. Some of these, such as the fuchsia and the peppertree, are closely related to South ' American species, while another tree of the bush, the well-known kowhai or New Zealand laburnum, is thought by some botanists to be identical with a, Chilian tree. . A marvellous feature of New Zealand’s vegetation ia the fact that some plants possess two or more distinct forms at different ages. This is well show $ by many specimens in Kennedy’s Bush. “ At one time the hush was rich in feme. Even now there are a few examples of the silver tree-fern, with spreading fronds and aerial roots on the trunk. Two years ago cattle were shut off from the bush, and now t|i© ground is being rapidly repopulated with many of the smaller ferns, sqm© of which, however, are not very small, as one prickly-shield fern has fronds two or three feet in length.- Other ferns in the bush are the black-shield fern, various species of spleen wort, including the dainty ,gera named in honour of Sir Joseph Hooker, species of lomaria, and the common climbing poly-pody. “ Although’the bush is sufficiently interesting and beautiful, it is hoped that in course of time the locality will be made still, more beautiful, interesting and educational. The mountain situation affords a remarkably equable climate, and will enable a very large proportion of tlie New Zealand flora to grow tber.o under perfectly natural-con-ditions. Many plants that are not hardy oh the Canterbury Plains are found to be quit© hardy on the summit of the Port Hills. Therefore North Island plants, winch Christchurch residents may never have an opportunity of seeing’in their city, will flourish in the bush. Beautiful sub-alpine shrubs, and many of the alpine plants, should find in. the moister surroundings of this locality a congenial home.” . Dr Cockayne found 97 species, comprising 35 species of trees and shrubs, 13 banes, 15 ferns and 34 herbaceous plants, including, grasses and sedges. The bush rests in a shallow gully near the summit of the hills, from which tliere is an extensive view of the Canterbury Plains on the one side, and of Lvttelto-u Harbour and its panorama on the other side. Ho says that if the reserve is acquired for the public and managed on popular lines it cannot fail

to be a Gouroo of instruction to tha 'i people of Christchurch and a very in-; teresting spot to visitors from other'* lands.