REVIEW.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1, 21 January 1929, Page 66

REVIEW.

The Trees of New Zealand, by L. Cockayne, Ph.D., F.R.S., and E. Phillips Turner, F.R.G.S. New Zealand State Forest Service. 171 pages, 118 illustrations. Government Printer, Wellington. Price 4s. (cloth-bound copies extra).

Issued in the first place for the benefit of delegates to the Third British Empire Forestry Conference, 1928, this little volume admirably serves the further purposes aimed at .by the authors. It enables the lovers of our indigenous treesand they are many recognize them at once, whether they meet them in the wild or in the garden. They will find also authoritative accounts of the distribution and uses of the trees. The reviewer echoes the hope expressed in this sentence of the preface : “We also trust that it will come into the hands of many teachers of nature-study, and, above all, the senior pupils in schools, so that the latter may come to understand clearly what a priceless possession are these forests of theirs with the trees pure New-Zealanders, and that with such knowledge will arise a fixed determination that the areas of forest and other vegetation set aside as national parks, scenic reserves, and sanctuaries shall never be desecrated, but remain far into the distant future living examples of primeval New Zealand.” The writer would like to see copies of the book placed in every primary school in the land, and especially in the smaller country ones.

Although botany is the Cinderella of the sciences taught in our secondary schools —a remarkable fact, when we pause to consider its importance for our economic welfare no less than our culture—Cinderella may yet come into her own, and this book would go a long way towards helping the scholars to help themselves to a knowledge of those “ pure New-Zealanders ” —our trees. “ Notwithstanding the tropical character of the forest,” say the authors, “ how purely a New Zealand production it is may be seen from the fact that, leaving the ferns and their close relatives on one side, no less than 89 per cent, of the species [and we are told there are 290] are endemic, and if the ligneous plants be alone considered, all are pure New-Zealanders except three.”

Chapter I deals summarily but interestingly with the general characteristics of our forests, which are stated to fall into two distinct subdivisions—subtropical rain-forest and subantarctic rain-forest. Accounts are given of the various groups to be found within these subdivisions coastal forest and swamp-forest. The factors influencing the composition of the forest, and the changes that occur as one travels from north to south and from coast-line to mountain-top, are explained, and statistics given, of the component species. The absence from primitive New Zealand of grazing and browsing mammals is emphasized and its bearings discussed. All this will whet the appetite for more, but we are not told where further details may be found. Readers who wish to go deeper might start with “ New Zealand Plants and their Story,” and” will find a full account in “The Vegetation of New Zealand,” both from the pen of Dr. Cockayne.

Chapter II the outstanding feature of the book consists of a series of illustrations of .106 trees (mainly specimens of leaves, flowers,, and fruit), accompanied by' concise technical accounts of their . characters and a statement of the distribution of each. Any one scared by the spectre ,of “ technical terms ” will soon be able to exorcise this, after all, feeble bogy by the help of the excellent glossary at the end of the book. -

Mr. S. Gibson is to be heartily congratulated on the exceptionally fine series of photographs. It would be captious, perhaps, to suggest that in some cases even better results might have been obtained by slight modification of the background. So good, indeed, are the illustrations. that in very few — e.g., some of .the “ pines ” and coprosmas—will the inquirer need to do more than compare a living specimen with the photographs to arrive at its proper name. Both technical and Maori names are given, and in some cases the “ popular ” name. There are pitfalls, however, in every scheme devised to reduce wild nature to order. It may be noticed, for instance, that in Fig. 13 the description reads “ leaves alternate ” (as in all text-books), while the spray illustrated shows the

less usual but still not uncommon form with leaves to all intents and purposes “ opposite.” It is important for the user of the book to note the scale of enlargement indicated on each photograph. The chapter concludes with a key to certain species not illustrated, , remarks on hybridism with photographs of certain hybrid swarms, and a list of known hybrid groups among our trees, followed by a brief note on epharmony changes in form in response to changes in environment. The key, as far as the reviewer has .tried it, appears to “ work ” fairly well, but one needs flowering and fruiting specimens to get there.” A student finding trouble in placing a specimen should, after arriving at the illustration most nearly fitting his case, consult the list of hybrids, as the source of his trouble may be there revealed. So rapid is the advance in our knowledge of wild hybrid groups that about six more could already be added to the list here published. A suspect that has considerable interest, and is at present being investigated, is a tree that is probably Podocarpus spicatus x totara, recently discovered by Mr. G. V. Wild near Feilding. Space probably did not admit of a fuller discussion of epharmony, but an illustration of the great changes sometimes caused would have been useful—say, the remarkable case of Nothofagus fusca spoken of on page 146. Chapter 111 deals with the timbers, and conveys a great deal of information in a short space. The authors limit themselves in this section to dealing with trees for the timber of which there is some demand. This certainly tends to induce a juster view of the relative importance of our trees from a timber - producing point of view, but one would have liked a little more detail concerning some of the trees dealt with, and of their other economic uses. Young farmers, especially; would have welcomed more information on the value of different trees from their point of view. Also very welcome would have been illustration of various sections of the timbers dealt with. But all this is really asking the authors for an additional book. The glossary has already been mentioned, but the definitions of “ vegetation ” and “flora” on page 163, are specially recommended to the notice of newspaper reporters and “ popular ” writters in general. The book is fittingly dedicated “ To the Honoured Memory of . Thomas Kirk, the author of the classical ' Forest Flora of New Zealand.” That it will fulfil the aims and hopes of the writers is certain. _ A

H. H. ALLAN.