MW ZEALAND FLORA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 201, 15 July 1936, Page 2

MW ZEALAND FLORA

NATIVE PLANTS BECOMING RARE. CAMPAIGN BY SPECIAL COMMITTEE. New Zealand is renowned for the beauty of its native flora, yet until recent years little attempt was made to prevent its destruction by human and other agencies. Gradually,- numbers of trees, shrubs, ferns and herbs of immense botanical value have been destroyed by lire and stock. Others escaped only to be i-ooted out by collectors until in many districts where they bad previously flourished, the species disappeared altogether and many indeed were laced with compjete extinction. , , In December, 1933. tlie New Zealand Rock Garden Society sot up a special committee to take whatever steps were considered necessary to protect and conserve rare native plants. Mr J. G. Helvar was appointed chairman and Mr L. D. Haggett secretary, the other members being Alcssrs A. D. Bcddie, W. M. Martin. B.Sc., F.R.G.S., 1. \V. Attwood, N.D.H. (N.Z.), AV. Smith, W . H. "Wilson and Hope B. Gibbons A plan of campaign was immediately evolved and since that time the cominittco lias been active, not only in cataloguing and recording those species which were found to be rare, but in keeping in touch with their progress after they have been propagated and distributed throughout the Dominion to the 30 parks and reserves which comprise the committee’s mailing list. To date. 300 plants have l>eoii distributed and 150 more are to be sent out this month. MUCH RECORD WORK. The immense amount of record work alono can be appreciated, but there is in addition the packing, posting and railing of all these valuable specimens. So far, the results have been distinctly' encouraging, duo to the enthusiasm of the members and the cooperation of collectors and propagators. The collectors are specially instructed not to dig up specimens, but instead" to obtain seeds or cuttings lor transmission to the committee. The propagators, who are eliictly officers in charge of botanical gardens in the main centres, have assisted greatly by putting at the disposal of the committee their time, their Valuable experience and the use ot plant and equipment. When the work was first begun, it was not realised th.-.t bybiidism—the crossing of different spe. .es—would play such an important part. At least six "species . which wfiro formerly thought to be true types are now considered to be of doubtful status. With the help, however, ot systematic botanists and others well versed in native plant classification, considerable light has been thrown on this aspect of the work. BOTANICAL GEMS.

The committee has undoubtedly been instrumental in saving from extinction numbers of plants which, i r on } because of their rarity, have become botanical gems. Doubtless Captain Cook would have been greatly surprised had he been able to loresce that the small herbaceous plant which he gathered in boat-loads on lus first visit to New Zealand and which he used as a remedy for the scurvy that was afflicting his crew was to vanish almost completely from the North Island. , , f Only one small patch of a lew square yards in area to exist on the west coast ot the " elln k ton province, though it may still e found at Stewart island and. also oil the Chatham Islands. Lepidium oleraccum is its botanical name, but it will always be known as Cook s scurvy crass. It was originally discovered by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Solander and has a heavy disagreeable sme 1 and hot biting taste but is greedily devoured by stock, which is tne reason that it is now quite extinct in several of the localities Captain Cook visited and is becoming increasingly rare in others. RARE GIANT FERNS. Found in Eastern Australia but in only two districts in the Dominion is Adnintum lorinosum, the largest maidenhair fern in New Zealand, it grows in Northern "Wairoa and tlie Manawatu and its tributaries, and attains a height of 5 feet, possessing more than 20 branches and ibOO leallets. ~, . , Eears that this magmheieut torn would in time disappear completely have been allayed as a result of the committee’s successful intervention. Another line fern, the king fern (Marattia iruxinea), which grows in the lowland forests from iviaugoum southward to Cape Egmont, has also been distributed by tue committee. The largest of our native ferns, it is called “para” by the Maoris, who formerly 7 ate its largo staichy' loot and occasionally cultivated the plant near their villages. Wild pigs have nearly exterminated it in some districts, but in others it is not so rare, particularly fine specimens may be seen in the bush house at the \> ellington botanical gardens. Of more than passing interest to the botanist is the rare weeping broom or tree wistaria (Chordosparuum isteveusoni) of Marlborough. It is a curious fact that this singular and beautiiul tree was actually in cultivation in England, where u had flowered, before it had been “discovered” in New Zealand. It happened in this manner. Mr H. Weld, in the course of a visit to Marlborough, saw and admired the plant and procured ripe seed, which he giew at his home in Dorset. As a result", he had trees flowering in England before Cheeseman, in 1910, botanicaily described and named tlie tree. LIFELESS-LOOKING APPEARANCE. It is at all times iealiess except as a seedling at one or two years. When in bloom, it produces pale lavender pealike racemes resembling the wistaria from which it takes us name. Its rarity is attributed to the presence of stock, goats and deer, which destroy the young plants. The juvenile plant, a specimen of which is in Mr Haggett s possession, is dark brown and twiggy, and presents, a liieless-lookuig appearance, in which state it remains lor as long’as two years or more. At this stage it often turns straw.-coloured and appears to have died. It is apt to be discarded, but, if left alone, liow"will be found that it is still making growth, and finally the first I round stem of the adult stage will push its way vertically upward. In the East Cape district ot the North Island is to be found Carmichaelia Williamsii, the flowered broom of New Zealand. Named after Bishop Williams, grandfather ot the present Bishop Williams—who, incidentally, is" as keen a botanist ns lus illustrious ancestor—the plant has yellow flowers adorned with purple lines and a few purple splotches. Two other plant's which it is hoped will now become less rare are Olearia pachyphylla, a handsome daisy-flowered shrub which is occasionally seen on coastal rocks in the Hawke’s Bay district, and Pseudopanax ferox, the jagged-leaved lancewood.

Near Cape Terawhiti are the only nine trees Known to exist in nature of Uoprosma Buclianani, of tile same I'ainiJy as Taupita, and they are all in one group, 'nicy arc presumed to ho a hybrid between C. erassilolia and C. robusta. These plants have been , observed for nearly 30 years, and during all that time o..iy lemale llowers have been, seen on any of tne plants and 1 fewer than half a dozen fruit's. the comuiittee is testing out the theory of hybridity by a series ot garden experiments in both the North and the South Islands. One 01 the piost handsome and at the same time one of the rarest of New Zealand plants is Colensoa physaloides (the piiysalis-likd Colousua). Named worn by the Maoris, it grows from Three Kings southward, and when it blooms in the summer it produces pale blue racemes bin to l2iu tong, e'aen flower being* between liu and 2in in length. Later in bears maguilicient dark blue berries varying m diameter from Jin to -Jin. The varietal name physaloides means “like a capo gooseberry,” A memoer ot t*.o snapdragon family the native calceolaria (Joveilana Sinulairii) is found from the Last Capo to Hawke’s Bay. It is a haudsomo herbaceous liowering plant, with white blossoms spotted with purple. It llowers irom November till February, and may be lound irom sealevel up to lo(X) feet. So tar an is known, no one has yet been successful in cultivating the Penwiper (Notothlaspe rosuktuin), which hue tor the ravages of goats and deer, * would never have become rare. It is ” 10 he found in shingle on the eastern or dry side ol the Southern Alps, at an altitude of from 2500 feet to more than 6000 feet. The whole plant >3 pearl grey, the creamy llowers, which possess a delicious fragrance, forminoa pyramid or cone from 4in. to 12in? high. It is a crucifer and. is there'fore allied to the cresses and the mustard and turnip families. Illustrating the need for the preservation of rare plants, it may be mentioned that many years ago two species of New Zealand mistletoe at Bay of Jislands and at Wbangaroa Croat Barrier, .but there is no record, of their having been been in New Zom land for 70 years. As the scope and the value of their work become more widely known, the committee will have the unstinted thanks, not of botanists alone, hut of the great mass of the people who can not fail to appreciate the efiorts bein~ made and the .success attained in pro serving the Dominion’s ;;uhique flora and thins helping to keep New Zealand bcautitui.