NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16169, 4 March 1916, Page 5 (Supplement)

NATURE NO TES.

r^" ——- BY J. DftUlillOMD, ff.L.9, *.8.8. $

There' are few places in New Zealand that alien plants have not' invaded. They, •<• are found in the denaeßt forests,'in"tjie'U;.'rf>| barrenest deserts,; and on- the almost inaccessible peaks. They began to come in '— large numbers soon after New Zealand was discovered. When settlers arrived, a steady stream of northern -plant#: set in,: and now there are many districts in which the aliens have completely subdued ; the natives. The Gouland Downs, south - of Collingwood, ' iwhict were declared a " sanctuary for native plants and animals > last year, are one of the places, in the : ': : l Dominion where the aliens have not yet arrived in force. Their scouts and out- . • ||§ posts are there, but their main body and - their reinforcements have not pushed over'' < the - ravines 'and mountains and .up : the f"' £• gorges that are ■ the downs'/natural f.p defences.. . ■■ -yi : Many years ago a pioneer set up his \:j homestead on a commanding height*; on , the downs, looking down on to the rolling, tussocky hillocks. He erected a '! small cottage there and made a yard-for his horse. He intended to carry ; on pas- : toral operations, but the land is poor and - unprofitable, and finding that his enterprise failed he trekked back along the mountain , track,' taking his belongings... f with him. The site of his home is marked by about half an acre of green English grass, a bright spot which contrasts with seas' of brownish native tussocks 'on a!i'|;Si|| sides. The grass seems to be trying to spread, but it has ' not made much' pro- ■ gress, and it evidently finds difficulty ;in « ousting the natives.' The settler sowed•',> four sacks of gorso seed. This plant, ■ $ which has become a nuisance in Otago and Southland and parts of Canterbury and Wellington—it is proscribed under , the '*H : Noxious Weeds Act— not thrived on. ' ~ the downs, where, apparently, the moist,. V;. swampy soil and the sub-alpine conditions /- - ; are not to its liking. ;: It has not utterly vltf failed, but it grows in isolated bushes and . in stunted form. Probably, from' all the " seeds - sown, there are not more' than -* : twenty specimens now on the whole of the downs, which cover some 16,000 acres. On one ; occasion when my companion - and I stopped' to boil the' billy 'in the : \ bed of Blue Duck Creek, which runs from a mountain side over the downs and into ts% Big River, I searched amongst the beautiful native / vegetation ; for evidence of ; ; the strangers' presence. I looked 'along ; the forest-clad banks - and close to the : . * water's edge, and was congratulating my-%<®| self on being in a place which the aliens r had not reached .when I saw in -a. sunny 7 : situation, under . the shelter of "a";great grey boulder, a flower" with a much - "J .. brighter yellow colour than any New Zealander possesses. It was a member of the - ■ .. dandelion family— common hawkbit, I believe— there it bloomed with, to . me, . a : brazen-faced, • supercilious bearing amongst the modest native - plants into whose mountain fastness it had intruded. Many alien plants are weeds, but some • ' have been introduced for. utilitarian pur- - ■ , poses, and their presence is welcome. -"Aw ;- 7 a correspondent : at, Mango-nui-c-te-ao, west '• ®§ ; : of f Kuapehu, Mr. J. : Attwood, tolls me i that in the Waikato district the apinua T- insignia grows well 'on , the : deep alluvial deposits, on pumice, sand and swamp, and , even on older rocks .on which. there is: not _.V much depth of soil.' In the district therai J are many plantations of this tree," sometimes' in belts, sometimes' in groves.-iMostifeS r of 1 theplantations seem to ' havt been -<' i? planted about the • same - time, H between , : thirty-five and forty years ago, and the %' trees are about - sixty or eighty feet high.. Some solitary specimeni four : feet from the ground have a circumference of twelve §x or fourteen' feet, and - the average diameter in the groves is about two feet Self- % , grown-seedlings are seen in the district. • All - the seedlings -Mr. Attwood . has seen • i were 'in scrub-covered places,; as",on'tha * v* p riverU terrace ; below Paeroa *: homestead, |p| Lower Aniwhaniwha ; rapids f yAt ; Ate'arauri -> • there are long belfe'of pinus Mgnis'trees H at least thirty years ..old, and a goqd •' stretch of scrub country 'apparently! fav- ( -J-J ■ ourable to tho growth of the species, but "*; - there are few signs 'that the. trees there »re spreading. - __ Another pine, pinus maritima, Mr. "Att % wood states, is plentiful. at {Riverhead,? 1 011 f the Waitemata--river, '.and. is /spreading, more rapidly than the ■ other species of ■ -: r pine. His t observations :of insignis«h&y£Mm ; been ; made f chiefly in country used for s agricultural' and pastoral r operations'; while I his observations of maritima have been made on open country in the North of > Auckland, devoid of stock. and ! agriculture. I A great ■ part of that eountry :is: covered | with stunted scrub, fern, nishes, and ■h gome danthonia grass, but little or no £ vegetation - suitable \ for '< stock. Seedlings 5 there;* consequently, have ininy opportuni--6 ties to mature. The work of the gumdigger," also, is in their favour. -1 He tum^g § over the ground - roughly,? and " leaves hillocks ■ and« hollows. Seeds t find • lodgment in' the interstices between the- large sods, I and the condition of the soil induces'early maturity. Mr. Attwood has seen young >< pioneer : seedlings= of pinus maritima long 4 distances from the parent trees. A tfew ' miles out of Silverdale, on the Auckland £ road, hundreds of ■■ acres of scrub Land are besprinkled with this tree. These plants it camo from a. few belts planted in the district, and towards those belts the seedling ! trees, as far saa numbers are.concerned, | have the appearance of a forest. Mr. Att- -; wood > expresses >api opinion that pinus •5 maritima in time will afforest large tracts g£| of the northern peninsula. v 1 £j% I® J-L- A >I*^ : ' Last year an English hollyhock came i up i amongst ■> the i lettuces \in ? the j garden of the Rev. H. Young, at-Reniuera.7 He ?^ 1 transplanted it to the western 'end of a shed, where k the sun, could riot] reach ifc ■ till noon. When .Mr.--Young wrote, on February, 19,Uhe: plant had grovrn up, a ' single stalk, to a height of eleven feet -;v - four inches, with an abundance of rich : maroon flowers. .. He v counted ffiO^s^d^a pods on it, with an 'average of thirty-six : seeds in each pod, a total of 9COO seeds,...-V- ---! It is customary to, regard the hundredr fold of the parable as the miximum'yield, ■ „ ; he says," but iin the hollyhock there is ninety-eight times as-much.