Botanist Discourses On Native Trees

Northern Advocate, 24 August 1945, Page 6

Botanist Discourses On Native Trees

An interesting address in the adult education series under the auspices of the Whangarei District Progressive Society was given by Mr. F. S. Holman, who spoke on “Native Trees and Shrubs.” At the outset, Mr. Holman stressed the fact that native trees such as kauri and puriri, which generally were considered to be of slow growth would, under favourable conditions, grow just as quicklv as exotic trees.

Mr. Holman dealt with the various ways in which native trees could be uplifted and transplanted, and also gave illustrations of the advantages of wrenching, exhibiting to his audience two specimens of root growth, the one upwrenched showing a poor roof system, and the other tree, which had been properly wrenched, showing a dense and. matted" root structure.

At the request of the audience, Mr. Holman then gave a brief resume of the different types of native trees suitable for various planting-out purposes, describing the habits of each. He spoke also of the kauri, and gave ail interesting explanation of why certain of these forest giants were hollow, Mr. Holman’s theory being that decay commenced at the end of the long taproot of the kauri, gradually working up the taproot to the crown, and then invading (he trunk of the tree. Trees from which the taproot had been removed during transplanting, showed no evidence of this taproot and trunk decay. Unusual Puriri, Totara The puriri and the tolara were unusual trees in that there were two existing varieties of both, which were hard to distinguish from the leafages, but the variety known as the yellow puriri, was not nearly as lasting a timber as the black puriri. The red totara. of course, was much more durable than the white totara. The matai was peculiar in that the timber on one side of the trunk was often found to be much more durable than the timber on the other side. There were two species of kauri, which could be distinguished by the bark structure, the white kauri being much sought after by boatbuilders. having bark that flaked off in circular scales, the other species having bark flaking in slabs When the wood of the white kauri was broken apart, it would have a woolly appearance, and steamed very readily. At the conclusion of his lecture, Mr. Holman exhibited some tree curiosities, among which were the timber-rose, a parasitic growth which he had found on the ground level on certain native trees. This was an adventitious growth, and when the nodules covering the growth were washed off' by immersion in hot water and scrubbing, beneath there was exposed a rose-like figure. Another interesting exhibit was a vegetable caterpillar. Two or three specimens of these were exhibited. At one time, these had been living caterpillars, but were attacked by a germ, ana the caterpillar became petrified. From the horn of the caterpillar a small slim stem grew that carried leaves and flowers.