MAORI NATURE NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21040, 31 May 1930, Page 27

MAORI NATURE NOTES.

Written for the Otago Daily Times. By J. H. S. XXVI. Poroporo (a farewell supplication: dark), a handsome shrub about 12 feet, double-pointed dark green leaves from two to nine inches. Flower like that of its cousin the potato, but larger and of deep purple ranging from violet to white. Fruit shining light green, orange when ripe. Flowers and fruit in all stages appear together for several months in striking contrast with the very dark shade of the handsome leaves. The fruit is edible and widely distributed by birds. It is nearly related to the tomato and Cape goosebery, and to the deadly nightshade from which atropine and belladonna are obtained. A caterpillar attacks the fruit and imparts to it the same repulsive flavour as that of the leaf which is poisonous. The Maori made a healing ointment from the leaves, and the plant "had sacred significance to him. A new variety with strikingly handsome flower and broader leaves has recently come to light. It blooms freely in a few months from planting. “ Poroporo aki ki to Atua ” were the final words to a British officer about to be killed with a Maori tomahawk at Ngutu a te Manu. Tau-Hou (the stranger, or newcomer) doesn’t belong here. After a heavy western gale one fine morning in No\ ember, 1856, he came in a huge flight, described as "millions” to the South Island, where countless numbers died of exhaustion Just after their landln£* Probably many more perished vl l®oo-mile flight from his native habitat Australia. On that single ~t hey “ ÜBt have averaged nearly 30 miles an hour for over 30 hours. Now he is known from Te Reinga to Otakou. The tiny olive green silver eye is mentally greeted everywhere with Welcome stranger,” for he has proved himseif m the fight with American blight, a champion. Now that this scourge has been eaten up, he takes toll of the increase he gave us in the choicest rr eS W and a PP lea » and why not? He is too busy finding tiny insects, or too wise to warn themf for there seems never to be a cheep or a whistle from this swiftly movingf silent searcher. The dainty nest is just what we would expect from this petite builder. iST” r al ball no b Wr S tbJ I 1 i° f a be V g S> actually laced to the twig with filmy cords of spider web, annexed after a breakfast off the STS it ■° f h * d “ PMotaka (a circle). The penwiper rosette of the mountains grows freely at three to four thousand feet, so is but little known to any of us. A perfect rosette of thick leaves lying in treble row close to the ground like hnwkweed on the lawn It has a spongy bunch of small white flowers In the centre, and seems to have no stem. Those living on the high hill country use it as an ornamental pot plant, prized also for its delicate fragrance. Nature has given it special provision for the conservation of moisture by day, and for evaporation by night, so that it is protected from frost. Like most plants and wild animals, it assumes the protective colouring of Its environment. In its age-old struggle with the moving steep mountain sides where It grows, the tap root has developed to ■an abnormal length, and the plant has acquired the power t 6 ascend from the grave when deeply buried by a landslide. Tawhaki (to extend), the crested penguin, an oily bird whose plumage Is more like the fur of a seal than feathers. The shape, land locomotion, and the fin-like flappers suggest a common ancestry about a million years before man emerged from the woods. To disturb Them on the rocks is to see the clumsiest thing alive out of its native element. They grasp every projection with the beak, paddle with their short legs, flap or walk on th, tips of their little wings, and wriggle their bodies over the surface. They are not good swimmers as the whole body Is submerged, but they are champion divers and can stow away a week’s fuel of live fish in ten minutes. Other New Zealand penguins are Korora and Holho. A Norwegian whaler declares that half the “ whale oil ” taken at the Antarctic in such enormous quantities is from penguins slaughtered ruthlessly on the ice in millions. Pua Reinga, literally the flower of the underworld, is unlike any other plant or flower in this world. True to name, it is everlasting; for root, stem, leaf and flower appear to have been carved from hard wood by the Immortal Sculptor. It was discovered in 1857 by the Rev. Richard Taylor near the banks of the Wanganui River. The seed attaches itself in some mysterious way to the Toot of only two species of trees, and seems to enter the bark and to become incorporated with the wood, which it fashions into a true parasitic flower about the size and shape of one’s fist. Around it are clusters of buds, and together they come to the surface for light as do all beautiful things, It was at first classed as a fungus; but is no more related than a penguin is to a fish. There are several specimens in the homes of Palmerston residents. When growing it is said to emit a daphne-likc fragrance. Tete (molest or disturb), the little wood teal, with brown body and grey head, a pure white band across each wing. The female bird is paler, and there is an absence of the shining green feathers which distinguish the male of this and most other species of the duck family. The Tete is remarkable and conspicuous both in its graceful, slender form and its contrasts of white and brown markings. -In former years it frequented the sulphur pools around Taupo in flocks of a dozen or more, where its habit of swimming close together made it an easy prey to the man with a shot gun. They feed on small fish and water weeds, and the crop contains sand or fine gravel to aid digestion, which may account for the excellent quality of the flesh. If disturbed, they shoot into the air with rapid ascent, and return clumsily to the water ns though falling with outspread wings. Being once plentiful and valued as food they were closely observed by the Maori, who say they breed in the North Island and migrate south in summer. Pua Wananga, the large white clematis, most beautiful and earliest of our spring flowers, held sacred by the Maori and associated in his mind with the unwritten “ Wananga,” which was esteemed by him as the Bible was by the early Christian. In the legendary land of Hawa Iki, whence they were driven by dissensions over land and women (not wine and women as with us), their sole regret was that not one of them knew the lore of the Wananga. Arriving off the shores of the north, they saw the forest trees festooned with these white clusters. Involuntarily they rose to their feet in the canoes and cried aloud " Pua Wananga” (It is the flower of our beloved legendary lore). Tho silver plumes of the ripening seed are almost as beautiful as the flower. Nature made the clematis white, so that our many night flying insects might be guided to them for cross fertilisation. By transplanting in season, one may have no more beautiful clusters of Moom in a single year than this.