IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17335, 25 November 1916, Page 7

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY IN

NEW ZEALAND(By J. DRUMMONdT F.L.S., F.Z.S.) The habits of the rata are the subject of several notes sent by correspondents in different part of tho North Island. An exceptionally interesting note is from the Rev Oscar Blundell, who writes from the manse, Te Aroha. He is not surprised that comment has been passed on the fact that the rata seldom is seen clinging to a kauri pine, because ho has made inquiries amongst men long experienced in lifo in kauri forests and he has not heard of an authentic instance of these plants being found together. His own experiences, which have been fairly extensive, confirm the statement that the combination of rata and kauri is very rare. It was only last summer that a case camo under .his notice, while ho was on a ridge on the Little Barrier Island. In the diary he kept during his visit to the island there is a sketch of the rata and the kauri it clings to for sttpport. Tho entry on January 8 contains the following remarks: —''We climbed for an hour and a half up the steep slope of the ridge until we reached a place where a number of fine kauri trees grow. One of these was remarkable in that it supported a largo rata (Metrosideros robusta), a rare thing to he seen on a kauri. The huge epiphyte, however, had secured a hold on ono of the lower branches of its host, and its descending root stem had grown to a diameter of quite three feet. The attempt to send lateral roots round the trunk of the ka'uri, apparently, had been frustrated by tho bark of the kauri being periodically shed off in great scales, and the rate's embracing roots had failed to obtain a grip, and, curiously enough, had twined tightly around its own stem instead." The sketch shows that tho rata in this instance has sent down a second vertical root, which crosses two of tho kauri's great lower branches and the rata, seems to sit astride, and thus is supported. The kauri is a very fine specimen of its species, not less than seven feet in diameter. Mr T. Watts, of Kaurinui, Mangonui north of Auckland, also states that the' rata sometimes does grow on the kauri and the puriri. He is an oid bushman, and on several, occasions he has been caused much extra work by having to separate a kauri from a rata's embrace. Ho admits that these two plants are seldom found together, but he has known ton of twelve instances in which ratas have grown down kauris, and busbmen have told him of many other instances. Those always have occured on trees with short boles. Ho states that as a matter of fact, the rata is seldom seen climbing down a lofty tree of any species. He accounts for this by the theory that as it germinates in a fork or crutch and sends its roots down to the ground, if tho distance to the ground is too far H dies prematurely from want of moisture and sustenance. During an experience of over forty years in the back blocks and bush country, Mr Watts, has not seen half a dozen ratas, even when the trees are given tho benefit of the doubt, that had sprung, directly from the ground. He concludes, therefore, that, although this , plant sometimes may grow direct from the ground that method of growth with it is exceptional. A correspondent at Hamilton, in the Waikato, has sent several leaves of the lancewood. They belong to both the juvenile form of-'this plant and to the adult form. Ho evidently believes that they arc different species, distinct trees, in fact. This is a fairly common mistake, but as it was made by Dr Solander, who was one of the botanists on Captain Cook's first expedition, and also by Sir J. Hooker, one of the greatest botanical systematists the world.has known, it is quite excusable. The explanation of the mistake is that the leaves of tho .lancewood go through • extraordinary changes. It is doubtful if these changes are seen in any other part of the world. There are two species of lancewood. One is Pseudopauax crassi folium, the thick leaved false, panax, and the other is Psoudopanax ferox, the savage false, panax. They are found in both islands, but the latter is rarer than tho former. The latter is a small troe. between fifteen and twenty-five feet' high. The former sometimes is between twenty and sixty let hiffh, with a trunk from ten to twenty inches in diameter; It is known to the' Maoris as horoeka. Its leaves and wood have an unpleasant smell. At one stage tho leaves of this species are rigid and point downward. Mr R. M." La.ing describes them in this stage as surrounding the top of tho tree like rbe ribs of a balf-closcd umbrella. The leaves are long—sometimes forty-three inches—and narrow—about half an inch in width —and are thick and leathery, with, sharp teeth 0:1 the margin and sharp tips. This species, crassifolium, is easily cultivat-, ed. With its straight stem, like the shaft of a lance, and some of its bladelike leaves pointing downwards and others growing about the head of the plant, it is a somewhat strange orna- i ment in a garden. j