THE MANUKA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21919, 1 October 1934, Page 12

THE MANUKA

Sir,- -Let me lay another tribute at the feet of the manuka. I think voters for the national floral emblem have cot considered, the matter from, the propel? viewpoint. Had they done so, they would have chosen, not in favour of j beauty and rarity, but of familiarity. Manuka :is so common that it is almost: in tha same position as the prophet' in his own country. Tho_ thistle and the leek are not the choicest producj tions in the flora of either Scotland or Wales. Yet we all agree they ar« appropriate. Manuka is the heath w' our homeland. Let us honour it witk a place in her history. Pro Patbia. Sir, —I do not intend to join in the controversy as to what flower should bo our national flower, but I desire to correct some erroneous statements wlnoJj some recent writers on this ' subject have made with respect to the raanuks. (leptospermuin scoparium). In youi issue of September 27 "Homely" states that this plant is peculiar to New Zaa. land. This is incorrect, as it is comraot in Tasmania and south-eastern Aus» tralia. About a week ago a King Courw try correspondent, writing in the same cause, stated that this' plant is calleij "black manuka," apparently becaust its timber is black. The present write! has studied the vegetation of. New j&ca* land from the North Cape to Stewrr; Island for nearly half a century, aw* has never heard the common manukj called "black"; nor have I ever see* any healthy manuka wood that, i& black, though in my old surveying days I have out down tens of thousands o. these trees. Occasionally where a huim grub has bored a hole into the tree < small area of wood surrounding the holo may bo blackened owing to ui€ attack by bacterial or fungous disensft. The colour of normal manuka wood is red, and for this reason alone the eaiU sett'ers called the plant "red manuka, lb got its name tea-tree first in Australia, whero in the early mining dM the leaves were sometimes used asi I substitute for tea. The leaves are liiss said to have been used for the sanw purpose by the earliest- New Zealand settlers. I have myself tried it asi * substitute for tea, but did not re P e £ the experiment. _ The white I ' ian , U i, (leptospermuin ericoides) is confined New Zealand. In favourable sites I h< ™ seen specimens as high as 50 feet. ■ heartwood of this tree is reddish, bM the sapwood is white, which latter ' is responsible lor tiie name ?'j 1 • manuka." The wood of both ®P ecie ;L reddish brown when seasoned. :3owers of the white manuka are n j nearly so beautiful as those or ® red manuka; hut a healthy _ manuka tree, when growing m * open, is very ornamental. I may =• j that manuka is not the only name by the Maoris for the tea-trees. In son» localities the red manuka is called katoa, and in Hawko's Bay the • manuka is usually called kanu£!i. conclusion I would like to sugg cs _ as there are numerous books descr k tive of our indigenous plants, tn little excuse for the too-common ance about, them; and m this tion I recommend those wmtei late Dr.'L. Cockayne, especially , f Zealand Plants'and Their Story, , "The Trees of New Zealand, *' $ latter I had the honour of coIM*;. ing E. JPHTMJPS