THE NATIVE BRAMBLE OR " LAWYER."

Otago Witness, Issue 2801, 20 November 1907, Page 86

THE NATIVE BRAMBLE OR " LAWYER."

Perhaps you know it better by the name I Bush Lawyer or simply lawyer ; and, if you are a botanist, as Rubus auetralis. The Maoris call it Tataramoa — a heap of prickles. Have you noticed where the hooks are? What their shape is? Where they are found? Axe aIF flowers alike? Are all the flowers one one bush alike, while flowers on another are all alike but differing from the flowers on the former? Are there two kinds of flowers on the one bush? In white way do they differ, if there is any difference at all? Have you noticed the ourve in the leaf and in the petiole? If you want to read up on "Lawyers," get Mr Thomson's " Class Book on Botany " or "Plants of New Zealand." In the latter there is a paragraph on the small Iwamble, or Rubus parvus. It reads as follows: — "There is a beautiful little forest species, hitherto only found near the headwaters of .several western rivers of the South Island. The leaves are most delicately veined, and in autumn turn to a, beautiful bronze colour. It is, therefore, one of the few New Zealand olante that show autumn tints." Can any ' West Coast reader — for preference a schooiboy or schoolgirl — send me a few panicles of flowers and a few leaves? Packed in a , little damp moss, and put in a little tin, ' they will carry rery well. In "Darwinism," A. R. Wallace refers to the prickles of the lawyer as a probable protection against the large snails which j have shells from two to three and a-half inches long. These snails, saya "Plants of Naw Zealand," belong to a rare and disappearing species — rarely, if ever, found in the neighbourhood of Rubua. Is it possible to get one of these shells? Are they found all over New Zealand, or in certain well-defined parts? In a previous paragraph I asked you a question or two on the blossoms and leaves. Just a short note on the fruit, j You might get a pocket lens— a linen teeter costing about Is od or 2s at the most is a handy folding lens to carry about in the pocket — and follow the developments of the flowers, and see if all flowers produce berries, and, if they do, watch their development. Have any of you heard of the berries being made into a preserve, just as raspberries are made into jam?