Treasures of the Bush

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22320, 18 January 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

Treasures of the Bush

By MOUNTFORT, Haetihi Road, Ohakune

qiHE warm wind stirred the grasses "T and soft clouds drifted over the summer sky. Just the kind of day to go to the bush; so mother and I slipped away to the little patch of native bush to see what flowers we could find. The sun blazed down on the dusty track until we entered the cool shade of the bush. The tall tawas with their yellowy leaves stood grouped around a grassy track and there, rocking in the breeze, was a long trail of snowy bellghaped flowers. I had seen them before, just a feW, but to-day there were hundreds in the bush. In the deep shadow they gleamed white as they swung in trails from the tree-tops. Down,a little side track we wandered, where wo found a konini tree flowering profusely. It was the only one in flower in the group and looked so pretty with its dark purple and red bell-shaped blossoms hanging from the bright brown stems and peeping from the soft, new leaves. A few minutes later wo came to tne «dge of the swamp, where some destructive person had burnt away many of the native plants. It lay there, brown and blackened in the sunlight, a sorry sight, indeed. There seemed nothing flowering among the ruins, so we turned away and, glancing back to the bush, I saw a tree covered with little white blossoms. I knew it was a hmau from a description I had read, but had never seen it before. When we arrived at the tree we found the flowers were far too high up for us to reach. After hunting around we found a long, light stick which Was long enough to reach up to the lowest flowers. With a piece of flax cut from the swamp I lashed a knife to the stick and then mother and 1

manoeuvred it round to within reach of the branches. After much falling into lawyer bushes and other undergrowth we at last managed to cut off a small sprig and down it fell beside us, a lovely spray of little white flowers, with touches of green and pink on them. The hinau tree is sometimes called the lily of the valley tree, and it is rightly named, for the flowers are very similar to those of the lily of the valley, and it also has a delightful perfume. There were quite a number of the trees in bloom, but all the flowers were very high up. What was that gleaming red amid the dark green branches? We hurried over, and there, not very far up, was a beautiful cluster of scarlet mistletoe. In a moment I was scrambling at that birch tree and at last, after a struggle, got within reach of a lovely clump. I broke off a few pieces and slid down again, taking the knee out of my stocking. We had come to a number of birch trees and nearly every one had mistletoe growing on it in full bloom. Jts scarlet blossoms could be seen far up on the tree-tops glistening where the sunlight fell upon it. Searching around we saw some of a lighter shade, and on investigation discovered that it was an orange colour. Presently we gathered up our spoils and started homeward, but had not gone far before I espied hanging from the tussocks of a tree a soft creamy flower like a short cat's tail on end, with side shoots. It was some member of the kiekie family. Of course, I would have had that, too, but mother said: "Come along; you can't get that. We have as many flowers as wo will be able to paint while they last. We'll come another time and get it." So we went on and left behind a treasure that I know will soon lure our steps back into the bush.