NEW ZEALAND WILD FLOWERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19550, 5 August 1925, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND WILD FLOWERS

Regarding the wild flowers of New Zealand, the knowledge of the man in the street, apart from the kowhai and the rata, is limited. It is safe to conclude that even the botanically inclined have but a vague idea of the possibilities of a study of the flora indigenous to the dominion. At the St. Clair Presbyterian Hall last evening, a large and interested audience listened to a lecture on this subject by Mr A. Crosby Smith, whose instructive address and lucid descriptions of the various slides screened gave evidence of his wide knowledge and intensive study of the native flora of New Zealand.

Mr Smith, in opening his address, said that just as New Zealand had in the past produced gigantic fauna such as the moa, so in its flora, specimens could be found which also might be aptly termed gigantic. For instance wc had the mountain lily, which was the largest buttercup in the world, the flowers of which measured three inches across. Then we had the giant forget-me-not, and the giant veronica, which sometimes attained a height of 40ft. Against this, there was indigenous to this country, the smallest pine known —some nine inches only in height. Strangely enough. New Zealand wild flowers were not gaily coloured as a general rule. In fact, in the South Island, they were mostly yellow and white, this probably being due to a dearth of honeyseeking insects. It was interesting to note that wild flowers were suited by Nature to adaot themselves to the humidity or aquidity of the atmosphere in which they grew. The well-known matagourie, for instance, grown under damp conditions was completely devoid of spines, whilst a leafless veronica was the result .of this plant being reared without its usual amount of moisture. The lecturer —ent or. to say that whilst there were 2000 known species of native wild flora, he proposed to show on tho screen only a few of the better known varieties. Some 50-slides illustrating the lecture were then shown by Mr Simpson. At the close of the address a vote of thanks proposed to Mr Smith waa carried by acclamation. »