LILYWORT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 10

LILYWORT.

(Continued.) The word "lily" is of Celtic oiigiii, and means " white." Linnaeus being him.-elf a Celt, made fiee use of the language in designating his plants, and it was no wonder, as no tongue is able to portray imagery iv v, kicker or iuvfj? ft-^ls idioiu iktu taut

much- neglected Gaelic. The order of lilyworts is one of the most extensive in the whole system, embracing inhabiters of land, water, and air ; it has its flowers of every shape and size ; colours most varied and displayed in tint, excelling the very rainbow in their hues. Its distribution extends over every region of .the globe, excepting the Arctic, and I atn Tj'old enough to divine that when the North. Pole is discovered, with Sidney Smith's übiquitous Scot sitting on it, he will have a sprig of Calluna on his bonnet, a Lilium candidum in his button hole, a jolly jorum of real usquebaugh in his fist, and greet his visitors with the true Highland phrase, "Halla sho!" Nature has been rather frugal in conferring specimens of this flower on Tier highly-favoured New Zealand ; but, never mmd — if she ha 3 not been lavish in her gifts, she has made up by selecting some of the more imposing and making them almost our very own. The cabbage tree, described in » previous note, is one of the most gigantic in the whole order, and if the old dame continues iv a favourable humour the magnificent specimen, umbrageous as the spreading oak, with its galaxy of glorious masses exhaling their delicious perfume (now putting on its best appearance on the lawn in front of Mrs Robert Wilson's house in George street) arrives at full maturity. Its full manifestation may possibly find a prominent plaoe among the grand plant illustrations in the picture gallery of the Witness. Besides the Cordyline, the other lilyworts in New Zealand are few in number, but some of them have distinctive features well worth noticing. Taking them, as set down by Hooker, the first is RHIPOGONUM, Colenso gives the Maori name as Kareao. Dr Hector gives it one much more familiar to the old settlers of Otago, as by it the district and station near Clinton, at the entrance to the Popotunoa Gorge, held in former times by Mr Roberts, as well as the stream which runs through it, is. .known — Ruiiwao, possibly because - "the dense Bush with which this locality was in ancient days clad had the plant thickly interspersed through it, as those who traversed it can testify. The description given of the plant and its belongings by Hooker is: — "It is an exceedingly small species, only three being known, two of them being native to Australia and one to New Zealand, and ours is in the happy position of having an alias known as Scaiidem (climbing), or Parviflora (small-flowered). It is of very wiry habit, it 3 stems knotted and interwoven into masses in the bush, obstructing easy progress. The ingenuity of the Maoris led them to use the stems as cords, or in making baskets, and the settler^ were taught to use the root stems medicinally, as they were known to possess properties similar i to Smilax, quite a different order of plants, of which there are many species, and from which sarsaparilla is produced. This species of our lilyworts does not enjoy any particular attractiveness capable of making it very worthy of cultivation, whatever it might be as a curiosity. It is not, however, of_ any importance commercially, affording no material for manufacturing into baskets profitably, and it must not be confused with its near neighbour of the bush, but not an ally, the 'Supplejack." Quite different, however, is the next in the list, which is well worthy a place in any collection. The plant was formerly very common, growing plentifully in open, glade 3 and along the margins of creeks, but I it is now becoming rapidly a scarce commodity, and may soon become so rare as to cause it to be regarded with the highest esteem. ASTELLA. Astelia, as it is sometimes spelt, is also a fmall genus, confined to the Alps of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and Antarctic America. Our plants | are dioecious, but the similarity of the flowers is so great as to puzzle the botanist in determining the sex. The same remark applies also to some othei of the species. A. nervosa is the most common in Otago, and it is kuowu as the cotton plant, from being covered with silky, shaggy, or chaffy hairs. The leaves attain to 3ft in length, are narjow, rigid, with three very strong, usually red, nerves. The flowers are scattered on a long stem, and the sex in this is more easily arrived at than iv others, and the berries are yellowish coloured. The Maori name is kakaha. A. Cunninghamii, so named after the botanist, is a large-tufted, silky herb, its leaves up to sft in length, spreading and recurved ; flowers in both eexes more numerous, and more closely set ; berries fine, purple, black, handsome. It is more common in the north and on the West Coast than with us. The Maori name is kowharawhara. A. Solandri — in honour of Dr Solander, who visited New Zealand with Captain Cook, on his first voyage in 1769, and made a collection of about 300 flowering plants and ferns, having 200 engraved plates and descriptions prepared for the press, but never published, and now lying in the British Museum. This variety has also long leaves similar in habit to the former. The snowwhite silky wool with which it is clad mak)2s it very prominent. It is well set oft" with bright crimson berries. It is also generally aerial in its proclivities, so one has to look aloft to discover its habitation, quietly and contentedly ensconcing itself aa it does in trees. It draws its sustenance from the atmosphere, and not from the tree on which it lias taken lodging without board or keep, only to hold on to. It is much more common in tho north than in the south. A. Banksii, named after Solander's companion in iiavel, is also of a soaring character, and shows a preference to the warm regions, and cannot be spotted on the «rees; rich, purple-black berries when fully ripe, yellowish when immature. There are several other varieties which might be described, but these given will suffice to show the intrinsic nicuts of this species. Time and space forbid entering fully on the remaining species, which does not much matter as their importance is not great. Callixeno consists of two species only, one a native of Fuega and Chili, the other of New Zealand ; Anthropodium, pertinent to Australasia only ; Antbericum has two representatives — Rossii. a native of tho islets to tho south, being the rr.Oit important. It ii a tall, feathery- leaved plant, growing to a height of sft, well furnished with fohatje throughout, and flowers freely. It is easily rultivated, and often in its, young state taken for a fern.

Dianella is a gpnus of no great number of c.ppcics, ronfined to the southern hemisphere, and in New Zoaland we have only one of them. Intermedia, which is found growing on the margins of the buoh and open land. It is not so attractive in character as in fl&aie. '.ifnag £9 g&llei Jiy Tr?ft' aT k a£i»l tlifl

great goddess of the Ephesians, by whom the silversmiths made fortunes in making shrines for the gullible public to present to her and so propitiate her temper. We> do not need to smile at the folly of such conduct in most early days, as it is as common now as then. Diana is in mythology the virgin goddes3 of hunting. Her dwelling was, of course, a rural one, "many glens and groves," and was consequently far more reverenced by a rural than a civic community. Let it not be fancied that the goddess has had her rights impugned by having her name conferred on this little plant, as it is worthy of equal honour with herself. The Phormium tenax is the remaining one to be noticed, and it is co well known to everybody that remarks would be superfluous. I. M. I.