THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2985, 31 May 1911, Page 76

THE NATURALIST.

THE NEW ZEALAND FOREST.

SOME BUSH AND BIRD LORE. By Aparata Renata. I have mentioned that the kowhai is our most interesting tree, more in allusion to the fact that it is to be found in other countries, and thus has given foundation for the belief that at one time tihe coufar trios in whicfh it is found now may have been territorially connected with New Zealand in the distant past. There are many other plants of different families' that also point to this past connection; but the kowhai of those other countries is practically identical with ours. The specimens I have seen produood from seed gathered in South America could not be distinguished from some 1 have seen in our forests. Specially is this the Ouee with the variety grandifiora, common in the North Island; also to be found at GYa.go Heads, Papanui Inlet, ana along the coast generally. The kowhai is very variable in its form and mode of flowering and seeding, and even its leaves are of different dimensions in many trees growing within a few feet of each other. I have before remarked or. the prolonged period different trees of it can bo found in flower. The tints of the flowers also vary from very pale lemon to deep orange. Being a tap-rooted tree it does not lend itself to transplanting unless great care is taken to secure the tap root of some length, according to the size of the plant to be shifted, but seedlings when once established in pots or the ©pen are very hardy, and in ricih soil grow quickly. The trees never thrive if the soil is sour or pooir, and their presence in a forest always delnotes very rich and naturally well-drained soil. Besides being' found as a native of southern South America, it is found on Easter Island', Lord Howe Island, and Robinson Crusoe's Island (Juan Fernandez). A closely-allied genus of the same family, the kaka beak of the Maoris (Ngutu-kaka-riki), was at one time very plentiful in the North Island. Dr Solandcr, Captain Cook's botanist, mentioned it as cultivated by the Natives near their dwellings on and about the East Coast of the North Island. It grew about stunted bush, rocky, sunny slopes, and margins of creeks. Cattle, horses, sheep, and goats fairly ate it out in most localities. I am informed it still grows wild on the Great Barrier Island. I saw a few fine plants on the margin of the bush south of the Waiwem Hot Springs, over 30 yeans ago, apparently "in their native bueh. They were growing very healthy and strong on the margin of a small creek, and in full bloom. Nothing could be more gorgeous or attractive with such a background of karakas as were growing further in. Its own foliage has a feathery, ferny, soft look about it, not to be found in any other plant to suoh perfection. There is a delicacy about the wlholo plant in form and colour of foliage that tones down its gorgeous panicles of red flowers These panicles hang? gracefully along and underneath the leafy branches. As a -yultivated plant, when first introduoed into England, it took flower-lovers by storm, and one florist in Ikmedin told me pot specimens sold from £5 to £ls when he was a young man, over 50 years ago. Under cultivation from seed ithe colour of the floweara varies from, scarlet to red; white, cream, and pink

flowering varieties can now be procured from nurserymen, eithar by seed or plants. As our native white clematis flowers about the same time, the two grown together in damp, rich soil make a lovely object in it he shrubbery border. The kaka beak (Oiiantbus pimieeus) often extends its flowering season to summer, and as it often commences to do so in late winter, it will blend its flowers with those of the clematis as long as that liana blooms. Florists have named it well ''The glory pea of New Zealand." There is a fine specimen at Caversham, which reaches to the top of a two-storey house, about 25ft .high. It is a rod flowering one. In How© street a creamy white one is 9ft or 10ft high, and. being trained against the house, is a lovely sight when in flower. It is very successfully grown in many gardens about Dunedin, and through the South Island generally. _ To make a success of it, like the kowhai, a very, very rich, well-duig or deeply-trenched soil is absolutely necessary, and well-sheltered from all frosty drafts or cold southerly snaps. Thus only can the glory pea be grown to bo an object of beauty. I find I have got terribly divided from any bush or forest in dealing with ifche above plant. Anyhow, a long time ago it belonged to the North Island bush, so we will pop into a kauri forest, that grew between the Waiwera Hot Springs and Kaipara. Only the kauri and nikau palms really attracted my attention in the heavy forest, but the " kanaka was my favourite in the shorter bush, and the outskirts of it. I think for a rich green and handsome habit of growth the karaka tree cannot be excelled. lit is evidently a great favourite for ornamental purposes, as the Nortih Island nurserymen quote it for shelter hedges, etc., by the 100 and 1000. It figures in Maori lore extensively, and hae been well described and dealt-with by all writers on New Zealand or its inhabitants. Colenso has left us a detailed account of it, a,nd of the preparation of its poisonous fruit into a wholesome article of diet by the Maori's. Its groves, while the fruit was on the trees, were strictly tapu., and the harvesting of this was carried out with special ceremonies. The fruit is a long eggshaped drupe, from lin to liin long, with a hard, poisonous seed inside. The colour of the fruit is yellow or orange. When harvested it. is placed in baskets made of flax in a pool in a running stream, and allowed to remain there, till some fermentation or reaction takes place, which quite destroys its poisonous essence. After this the haird seed is dried and stored away for future use. It is- often sent as an article of barter by the North Island Maoris to the South, and mutton birds, or other articles not procurable in the north, are sent in return. Some of the groves I saw were tihe most beautiful portions of bush I have ever seen. Its leaves are of various sizes, from 3in to Sin long-, and they have a clean varnished look about them that is very nleasant to look on. They are as bright as the glossy paint used on ure3n Venetian blinds. They grow very readily from seed self sown. At one time they were very plentiful on the Chatham Islands. Their ' southern limit was Banks Peninsula. Under cultivation, they succeed well along the coast as far south as the Nugigots. The seed I' brought from the .north grew perfectly, and I often now look on two trees grown from it on the Ota go Peninsula. They require gcod soil, and to be planted out in the sun, Isolated from other trees. They are very hardy as far as strong winds go, but I think would perish before any frosty draught or cold snap. As it never grows in tall bufih or fore?>t, we are still only on the margin of bush, and must try and get into 't somehow.

Yes, it was the kauri that I had in view. I bad' climber a small one on the sunUy of a sluggish stream, and got some of its small cones to secure seed. My pockets were bulging with these, and my hands were a bit scratched by the sharppointed loaves of the tree. I was and intent, on seeing a huge kauri, as I had been told of some tremendous giants to be seen in any kauri forest. A famous oalllgraphist had shown me an historical drawing of a netted <ve. The sketch shewed and described this, and its roots were shaded by written historical facts in connection with the earlv history of the country. _ Then the trunk was shaded in fine writing with more recent events, and so on to_ date on the branches. Subscribers were being got for thiVj work of art, and engravings were to be taken from it. The penman's name, I think, was Meek. The whole subject fired my imagination, and see some huge kauri I' must. After getting through a tangle of gigi or kie kie, as the Maoris call it (Freycinetia Banksii)] and struggling through nikau calms and ferns, I was rewarded bv finding myself under a half-rotten kauri, about 10ft in diameter, with a mass of resin on the decayed side. At this time kauri gum wia.s not so much in demand as later on. It was not, my ideal of a giant kauri, so I struggled onwards and tip the stream till I got where a fine lot of young kauri trees fit for ships masts or spars grew. They were growing on a gloomy flat, apparently part of a large landslip. O'n worrying through a maze of kie-kie and battling up a hillside through mixed bush, I found a great, stunted kauri, large enough near the ground to cut a dwelling out of. IJt appsared quite solid. Still this did not seem to be anything after what I had heard people talk about havingr seen. I therefore worked down into low country again. .It was rough and contorted on the surface, as if tarn about by landslips, having 'been intersected at one time by flooded creeks and quite guttered out in their bocls. Little or no soil was showing —just clay and rotten reek or pumice" After getting through some nikau palms and kie-kie country, I came to the kaur.i forest. In the foreground were 15 or 20 uniform kauri trees, sft to 6ft through, with clean boles before they branched at 40 ft to 50ft from the ground. Their small, branchy tops seamed quite out of proportion to the massive trunks. They were not handsome trees, but looked very stately and majestic. No doubt I was lookilng on trees that had been in existence for 500 or more years. In an article by J. Barr on the "Kauri Kings" in the Lone Hand Magazine, specially and beautifully illustrated, is mentioned a kauri 48ft in circumference, and declared by experts to be considerably over 2000 years old! The kauri was the pine that induced vessels from Sydney to come across and load up with logs and spars, and American and other foreign ships fco make a point of calling in on their way to and from the whaling grounds to secure some of the famous spars. Early writers on New Zea-

' land generally mention the enormous doI struction of the young kauri trees for ship ; purposes. Still bush fires were then, and ! are to this day, responsible for the de- ' struction of more kauri than has boon used by man I was told some time back by a' friend from Whangarci that the trees ■ I mentioned above as .having seen were among those destroyed when a (ire wen!. through that country and ruined £3,COO,vjO worth of kauri timber. This seems a sum beyond the possible for one district; but when ono reckons out the quantity or ; limber in one tree at 20s pea- 100 ft super lin thick, it scorn assumes the possible where massive trees were the rule. J travelled for a mile through massive timber bush. There was no life in the kauri : forest. I saw no birds, and only heard ' the note of a tui now and again, near the creek. I did not see or bear a bellbitrd anvwhore. A few fantails were hero and there darting across the sluggish stream, i About the glades and edges of the bush 1 pheasants were very plentiful, and quite tame. When I got to my hotel, and mentioned what I had seen, I was ibold I had | only seen small trees, as there were many ! not far from where I had been 20ft in diameter and 50ft to 60ft high without a branch, and nicely tapered off, instead of like the wind-stunted ones I had been engrossed with; also, that they wore ahvavs quite sound, and that I should have'brought all the resin I saw. All this I believe was quite true. I was shown some most beautiful specimens of polished and earvod gum, and some with twigs, leaves, and insects encased in quite glassyclear pieces. Grosses, hearts, and many I other ornaments were worn by ladies, ! and one had as a brooch of jit a most j elegantly-shapod fish. The nikau palm ' mentioned above seems to take the place near kauri forest of tree ferns near and in ■mixed forest. Below the pines _in the larger treed forest is generally quite bare of any undergrowth. , The kie-kie is an interesting bush plant. If wire netting is placed round its flowering portion loosely to keep birds _ and rate away, its fruit ripens, and is edible. It bas a pleasant, aromatic, pear-like taste, and is eaten by the Maoris, their children, and European children whan they can get it without being injured by birds and vermin. A small tree that interested me about the creeks, where they form flats at high-water mark, was the mangrove. This, growing actually in salt water, with the lower branches and roots immersed always at high tide, looked quite strange, and unnatural to me. I had read about the mangrove swamps in tropical countries, but seeing the reality somehow seemed uncanny. Their bra.nch.es and roots are such a muddle at high water, and at low water a perfect tangle. At a short distance off, the thing looks all right, but in among the mess is. not a place to rest in comfortably. A Maori village of .thatched hosts, or whares, with a two-roomed wooden house for the chief, was situated just on the edge of the bush. Peach trees and peaches were in profusion. There was large fruit, small fruit, white fruit, red fruit, and pink fruit, with no end of variety of flavour. I suppose they were all self sown.