GIRL GUIDE NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1934, Page 19 (Supplement)

GIRL GUIDE NOTES

CHIEF GUIDE AND SCOUT.

TIME FOR NATURE NOTES.

(By “Tenderfoot.”)

Thought for the week: Each kindness shown to birds or men is sure to flutter back again.

Gn ; des, this week we have some wonderful news for you. You all know Lord and Lady Baden-Powell will be visiting New Zealand in February. There are to be rallies at Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin.- Wellington is having a week-end camp at Trentham and Taranaki has been invited to join in. Any guides wishing to attend this camp will hand their names to their captain next company meeting, as until we know how many are going to Wellington final arrangements cannot be made. Full particulars regarding the fares etc. will be given you by the captain later. The itinerary of the visit of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell is: Arrive Auckland February 3 or 4; rally Auckland, Febru-. ary 9; spend some days at Taupo; arrive Hawke’s Bay, February 18; rally Wellington, February 23; arrive Blenheim, February 25; arrive Nelson, February 26; leaving Nelson for Westland, February 28; arrive Christchurch, March 7; rally Christchurch, March 9; arrive Dunedin, March 14; rally Dunedin, March 16; return to Wellington and sail for Canada, March 19.

Soon you will be having your Christmas holiday, and most of you will spend days in the country and bush. This is a splendid chance for those who have their Nature test to do for their second rias* badge. Take your notebook and go and make notes and see if what I am telling about these plants is correct or not.

Kowhai: There are several varieties, but all except the kind you find in the bush here belong to isolated areas. The young plant is a shrub with numerous tough, twisted, interlacing branches, yellowish and with very few leaves. When about ten feet high a straight trunk grows, giving the plant the appearance of a tree. The branches now grow strrfght, have larger leaves and produce flowers. It is one of the earliest natives to flower. The yellow flowers secrete much nectar and are the joy of the bellbird and tui. The plant belongs to the pea family, but the standard (back petal) is very short, so that the stamens are exposed instead of being enclosed, as in broom, gorse, etc. The pod is very hard, with constrictions between each seed, which has four narrow wings running the length of the pod. Note that usually the appears before the leaf, which is compound. The wood is not now obtainable in quantities, but it is one of the most durable and tough of all timbers. The Maoris believe that a prolific flowering of kowhai means a good season.

Bed kowhai: Commonly called kaka beak, after the Maori name kowhaingutu kaka, meaning the kowhai with the kaka’s beak. It is not found in the bush now except in the far north, but it is cultivated in gardens everywhere. It grows in a bush and the branches usually droop, so that it is not easy to get the benefit of the bright scarlet Diooms. Muhlenbeckia: This is one of the common climbers among the native plants, it really scrambles, starting on the edge of the bush and actually scrambling over the plants growing there. The leaves are usually oblong, about two inches in length; the leaves twisted round each other are usually grooved. The flowers are very small and green like the dock or sorrel, to which family this plant belongs. The fruit is a little black, threecornered nut lying in a mass of fleshy material, and very pleasant to eat. They are sometimes called Maori grapes. If you look very carefully you will see that in some places the stems are swollen. When you open it to investigate you will find it has been caused by a caterpillar which eats out the pith. It will then bore a road to the outside, leaving only the bark untouched.. The moths usually emerge in December, and they then lift the thin bark and come out into the air . They are a beautiful bronze with smoky streaks. If you take some of the swollen stems in November ana keep them in a box the moth will appear for you. Go and look for yourself; you will find muhlenbeckia on the outskirts of almost any piece of bush. Black pine (matai): As so often happens with New Zealand plants, the adult specimen is very different from the young plant. Here the tiny plant is just a mass of drooping, interlacing branches a deep coppery tint. The adult tree is easily recognisable because of the way the bark peels off in little roundish scales. When the scales come off the under bark is crimson, but in a few days it turns grey. Male and female flowers belong to different trees, and the fruit is like a small black plum, containing only one seed. In old matais the sap often provides a pleasant drink. . The wood is very valuable, because it is very durable even when exposed to the weather. It makes wonderful firewood.

Totara: This is one of the most important trees to the Maori, being the tree from which canoes were hollowed out, sometimes as much as 70ft. long. The pakeha wants to cut the totara for timber, but the Maori preserves it in readiness for a new canoe. Valuable trees were even handed down as heirlooms. The timber is reddish when first cut, seasoning to a reddish brown. It has been used for railway sleepers, telegraph poles, wharf piles and posts. Since it does not warp, it is now used for window sashes etc. The bark hangs in thin papery strips, and these are still used by Maoris for making baskets in which mutton birds are sent to market. Native fuchsia: This was called by the Maoris kotukutuku, and the fruit was called konini. It is the most difficult wood to burn. The bark is stripped very easily from the tree. It is also one of the few native trees which is deciduous. Take special notice of the beautiful leaves, especially the deep colour of the underside of young ones. The flower has a dark purple calx, purplish petals and blue pollen grains. The nectar is secreted in a base of the flower and the tuis and bellbirds love it. I have seen children, too, “pop” the buds to make the flower appear and then suck the nectar. The fruit is dark purple and palatable. . , , Lawyer: This is one of the earliest native plants to flower and should have clusters of white flowers now. Totaramoa is the Maori name, which I am told means “a heap of prickles.” It is: the same family as the blackberry. Take particular notice of the prickles on the midribs of the stems— they are hooked and are meant for climbing and not for protection. A sweet juice can be obtained from a cut stem and was used in early days as a drink. There are different kinds of lawyer, some have a threefold compound leaf, some have no leaves and some have longish narrow leaves. Alphabet Nature Game: Everyone writes down the names of as many plants as sire can, beginning with each letter of the alphabet. After time is called each guide reads her list, and a complete list can be made from all the lists read. It creates more interest if you give two points for each native plant and one for the garden flowers. Then you could -try and get information, pictures etc., of the plants not very well known. Both these games will help to make you familiar with your own flora.