Far-flung Weed.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20381, 11 August 1934, Page 10

Far-flung Weed.

Nature Notes.

James Drummond,

By

F.L.S.. F.Z.S.

TN T TIIE JURASSIC PERIOD, lofty pine trees at Curio Bay, Waikawa, Southland, towered above dense thickets. Their feet were covered with masses of ferns. Amongst these was a species of fern noted as the great weed of the Mesozoic Era, Cladophlebis australis. It was the commonest plant in Jurassic New Zealand. With amazing vigour, it, like the bracken fern of these times, flourished in many widely separated parts of the world, leaving in Mesozoic rocks all over the Southern Hemisphere abundant evidence cf its sutcess. The Jurassic Period saw stupendous elevation of the land. New Zealand, Tasmania and Australia, and the great continents were converted into vast landareas. This gave species of plants opportunities to spread widely, more widely it is believed, than plants, extinct or living, spread at any other time. The typical Jurassic vegetation was world-wide. Cycads, palm-like plants that do not grow in New Zealand now, were the most abundant and most characteristic. For this reason, the Jurassic is called the Age of C ycads. The ginkgo, or maidenhair tree, was abundant and widely distributed. It probably grew extensively in New Zealand then, but the onlv fossil record of its presence is at Mount Pptts, west of Christchurch; and that plant should be described as ginkgo-like.