NEW". ZEALAND TREES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18496, 5 September 1923, Page 10

NEW". ZEALAND TREES.

OUTLINE OF HISTORY.

AFFINITY; WITH S. AMERICA.

SOME - ANCIENT PLANTS.

; The history of New Zealand trees was traced by Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., in a most interesting lecture in . the City Council Chamber last evening under the auspices off the Auckland Forestry League. Tho Mayor, Mr. J. H. Gunson, presided. - '■

To the botanist, geologist, geographer, and climatologist the, plants of the Dominion wero of profound-interest." said the lecturer. New Zealand's long j isolation from other great land masses ! and its subsequent extensions to conti- ; nental dimensions in different directions, joining it with tropical and antarctic areas, had left on its flora unmistalceablo impressions revealing its past. Trees and other plants had, ; not all", the same ; length rtf ancestral descent. Some were j found as fossils in very early rocks, and I others only in recent deposits. For ex- ' ample, the'kauri, noblest of trees in size, I lineage, and age, was closely related to trees which flourished long before the. ] ! Alps, Himilayas, the Rocky Mountains, j or Andes were raised above the sea level They were found as fossil leaves, cones, and wood, in Scotland, Siberia, Africa, and in the mountain systems named. Our podocarbs, miro, maitai, totara, were of a primitive type stretching as far back as the coal period. . We had 14 species r out of 40 known. , Our myrtles, ratas, : pohutukawas, • and >■ manukas, were not nearly so ancient in origin , and did not come into existence until long after tho kauri and podocarbs. I A puzzling feature of our flora was the great number of plants similar to, and in some cases, identical with, -those of ex- ■ treme South America. Early botanists suggested a former continent connecting the two countries. 'How otherwise oould such trees as our beaches ; with non-float-ing seeds, and our fuchsias, -get across the 5000 miles of ocean separating them now ? Widespread Affinities. Further research, however, showed the same affinities elsewhere. South America, Tasmania, Southern Australia, South Africa, and remote islands, showed a close botanical relationship with each other. For example, Kerguelen, a small island between South Africa and Australia, but further south, than either, had seven kinds of plants that were of the same species as those growing on Mount Kosciusko, ' the highest mountain in Australia. Trees • related .to our bodocarps were found in South Africa on the high levels, and extended to or beyond t'ne equator on the elevated plateau. , These things caused botanists to believe in the existence of a former vast southern continent, extending in every direction from where these families of'plants were dispersed.. Gigantic fossil flightless birds were found in Australia, Madagascar, South America, and New Zealand. Our freshwater mullet were the same as in the Fuegian and Chilian streams, and the freshwater crayfish, spiders, and earthworms were cousins, if not brothers, in some cases, of < those of extreme South America. Our peripatus, an interesting little creature, a connecting link showing relationships to worms, insects, and crustaceans, was found in both countries. Saltwater soon killed it. It was born alive and could not survive a long sea drift on a log. . All these interesting facts showed the necessity for a land connection in former times. Relations to Antarctica. The mystery was partly solved by the fossils discovered in Scott expedition. They combined leaves, seeds, and wood of plants, now growing in New Zealand, and showed that the continent of Antarctica, ten times the size of. New Zealand, and now so frigid that, not a single herb can grow on it, once had a climate •• like* our own, with forests, birds and streams. . This continent was not always tho same size, and -may have* annexed a large part of the Southern Ocean, extending at times as far as New Zealand and other -countries. This was how we obtained our sub-Antarctic flora, tho beeches, fuchsias, kowhai^' honeysuckle, and about 40 other plants. Probably, as Antarctica progressed slowly in refrigeration, the kowhai came second last and the fuchsia last of all thoso southern to our country. The tropical impress, which was most marked in-North Island plants, came, through our expansion northwards, at a later geological period. The area of New Zealand extended to near the Equator. As it subsequently slowly sank, most of its plants would be killed out by the cold as the dry land retreated to the south, but many proved hardy enough to survive th« slow change. Our puriri, wliau, kanaka, puka, kohekohe, .kiekie, and nikau were examples of tropical plants. The veronicas, the best known being the koromiko, _ or dysentery leaf, were our most tropical New Zealand plants, and if ever we wanted a floral emblem to represent New Zealand it should bo the veronica flower.

Mr. Poynton made interesting reference to other plants, and exhibited a number of lantern slides. In conclusion, he spoke on the subject of the preservation and restoration of our forests, emphasising the necessity for selection and breeding, suitable soils, and fertilisers.