IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Witness, Issue 3593, 23 January 1923, Page 6

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

inLW ZEALAND’S NIGHTSHADES.

By

J. DRUMMOND, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

A native plant that is in bloom now, and should continue in bloom until the autumn is worth close attention on account of a peculiarity in the colours of its flowers. It belongs to the family of the nightshades. Its Maori name, poroporo, has been corrupted by settlers, inexcusably, into “bullibull.” Botanically it is Solanum aviculare. It is a leafy shrub, with leaves occasionally ten inches long. It grows in both islands. Its flowers usually are dark purple, but individual plants are found sometimes with white flowers. More than 20 years ago, Mr T. F. Cheeseman, Auckland, noted that individuals at Buckland, Manakan County, with white flowers had a different aspect from that of individuals with purple flowers. Later, Mr W. Townson, examining the species at Pukekohe, Franklin County, found that no individuals with purple flowers ever produced a white flower, and that individuals with white flowers have pale green leaves, much thinner and more delicate in texture than the leaves of purpleflowered individuals, and have a slenderer and more graceful appearance. When seeds of white-flowered individuals, collected by Mr J. Graham, were planted in the Patumahoe school garden, about 30 plants were raised, and all had white flowers and other characters of white-flowered individuals. r lhe facts lead Mr Cheeseman to believe that the white-flowered New ZeajDsqd Solsc num is a stable variety, and should be distinguished by a name of its own. Further observations, probably, will confirm this opinion.

A comparison between the flowers of the poroporo and the flowers of the potato, Solanum, tuberosum, which came originally from the Cordilleras of Peru and Chili, proves a close relationship between those plants, in spite of the fact that their native countries are far apart. Another New Zealand nightshade, Solanum nigjium, the black nightshade, is a cosmopolitan. It is one of the' world’s weeds. Its range in New Zealand, where it is fairly plentiful, extends from North Cape to Central Otago. Its small white drooping flowers, in evidence throughout the New Zealand summer, contrast with its black, sometimes red, berries. Although these are used for tarts in the Old Country, botanical text-books state that they are a virulent poison. The tobacco plant, Nicotiana Tabacam, which occasionally escapes from cultivation in rich warm soils in the North Island, is on the list of introduced members of the nightshade family that have established themselves in New Zealand; also the Cape gooseberry and the henbane. The kumara, ipomoea batafcus, sometimes known as the ‘sweet potato,” is not a potato, but a member of the convolvulus family. It is not in the list of native New Zealand nlants, as botanists agree that the Maoris introduced it from Polynesia during their migrations several hundred' years ago. > )nce their chief vegetable food, it still is grown fairly extensive by them in the North Island Its native country is uncertain. A connection of it, Ipomcea palmata, is a twiner with lovely purple flowers, darker in the centre than at the edges, which beautify the Kermadec Islands and sea cliffs from the North Cape to the Bay of Islands and Hokiaxiga from December to April. A geological visit to the Great Barrier Island has convinced Mr J. A. Bartrum, Auckland, that it formerly was a continua-

tion of Coromandel Peninsula. Pie describes it as a rugged, elevated, much-dis-sected mountain mass, about 24 miles long and varying up to 13 miles wide. Rhyolite lavas lend themselves to the evolution of weird pinnacled crags and sheer precipices which, with alluring whiteness, give a fascinating picturesqueness to the landscape carved from them. Islets and reefs that thickly fringe the shore-line represent extensions or land masses not yet cut down by the attacks of the waves. On the western side, ‘‘youthful, precipitous, lofty cliffs form an immature coast, except where they are interrupted temporarily by bays, and by deep, narrow entrances to the wonderful and beautiful Fitzroy Harbour. Pie found streams actively building deltas at the heads of bays, but noted the absence, even in land-looked Fitzroy Harbour, of the mangrove-dotted mud-flats common in most North Auckland harbours. «■ On the eastern side, the coast, which is more exposed to the waves there than on the western side, has been cut back much masto regularly. Formerly several harbours similar to Fitzroy Harbour were on the last, but they have been shut off from the open sea by spits of barrier beaches. The lagoons formed by the process have been largely obliterated by blown sand as swamp, or some other filling. Mr Bartrum was impressed by a conspicuous feature of the landscape on the northern wall of the Awana Valley. Seen from open country near the top of a ridge, at a distance of little less than a quarter of a mile, it looks like a great vertical wall, probably 100 ft high, built of horizontal oolumns, apparently of rhyolite. A correspondent, who does not supply his name, confirms Mr L. M. Monckton’s statements that some Maoris have a super-

stitious dread of green lizards. He states that there is a belief amongst them still that souls of departed Maoris travel as lizards to Te Reinga, Spirits’ Bay, and from cliffs there leap into the other world. He knows of miners who were bothered by inquisitive Maoris, and who kept them off by tethering a lizard in the drive. Otago and Southland Maoris did not give Mr H. Beattie, of Gore, much satisfaction when he asked them as to their feelings towards lizards. An old man said to him, “I never heard of the tuatara here, but I have seen a lizard two feet long. It was on the top of one of the Hokanui Hills. Because 1 had had a bad dream the night before, I killed it with a big stone, lighted a fire and burnt it. It was the biggest lizard I ever saw. An old man told me afterwards that I was wise to kill and burn it, as it prevented any evil happening to me on account of my dream. Some of the old Maoris used lizards for food. They made pets of the lizards, which came when their names were called, and which slept alongside their owners. A pet lizard, Te Horomokai, was kept at a village near Kaitangata, but w-as lost.” The lizard about 2ft long, probably was a tuatara, or an exaggeration. Mr Elsdon Best states that the tuatara was the only reptile eaten by Tuhoe Maoris ho fore Europeans oame. They had no superstitious feeling tow-ards the tuatara or the mokomoko, which, apparently, is the small common brown lizard, found usually under stones and logs, but., strangely, it was regarded as an evil omen to see any other species of lizard. They believed that tuataras were produced by birds. One species of lizard was believed to be the parent of the shining cuckoo. Lizards sometimes were selected as guardians of property in Tuhoeland, apparently on account of the

fear they caused. 4 A lizard was placed in a tree much frequented by birds, to warn off poachers. Some places were noted for the numbers of tuataras they produced. Tuataras were collected at Mount Edgecumbe, placed in baskets, taken alive to the village, and cooked and eaten; but the food seems to have been reserved for men, as a belief was held that if women tasted Jt they would be attacked by many tuataras, and, probably, would perish.