NATURE NOTES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22507, 15 September 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES

FIVE-FINGER OR IVY-TREE

Brace Hampton, of Kaituna tJraßey, has sent some leaves and Inns from a native tree he found jfvgnmiiur ori"-4he shady side of a 'HU near his home. He has several chokes for a name—the . Maoris know It as whauwhau—paku, or ilMt whauwhau or perhaps houhou. :. Bushmen and settlers know it as fivellngered-Jack, or five-finger, or Jay-tree. Seeing- that the plant .Boas belong to the same family as fee wmmnn ivy, the name ivy-tree or native ivy, is really quite suit- , able. The only objection to the 'name five-finger is that often leaves are, found with as many as seven fingers.

_ Botanists know the plant as Nothopanax arboreum. The word * “panax” is applied to a group of pants growing in Australia, ■■laya, Asia, and Africa. It actually comes from a Greek word ■yaning "a remedy for eyery- ' thing.” because the plant _ from "Which the Chinese drug ginseng - was obtained belonged to the ■ family. This drug was believed by ' the nhineco to have. miraculous 'Jwwers of healing all kinds of dis-, The New Zealand members

little family differ in some reV >cts from those found in other wuntries, hence the prefix notho—meaning spurious or false. The second name means tree or treelike. I am surprised that ivy-tree is - apt more -widely grown in gardens. • H I were asked for a quick-grow-hardy, wind-resistant, eyer--PMO. easily cultivated shrub, l - poold usually advise ivy-tree. If kept to one leader it soon forms • dense rounded head consisting ox * mass of dark-green, shiny, tough : mallets. Each compound leaf '■ally has five leaflets. A broad, - *®’°*k>bed sheath will be found at base of the main leaf stalk. _ One of the attractions of ivy- , toee is that it flowers in mid- ' Janter. Although each individual Cotpct i? 50 many arc pro* .dttred In a head that the effect is

(Bn L. ll’. McCatkiU)

most attractive. The whole head of flowers is of the type known as an umbel. Several flower stalks of about the same length radiate out from the end of ine stem. Each of these rays branches again into smaller rays at the tip of which are found the flowers. Each flower with its five petals is only about one-quarter of an inch across. Male and female flowers occur on different trees, so that those on one plant will have only pistils, those on another may have only stamens. Each flower produces large amounts of nectar, a substance much appreciated in the depths of winter by honey-eating birds such as the tui, bellbird, and wax-eye.

The fruits which ripen in early or mid-summef remain on the trees for a long time, providing useful food for several kinds of native and introduced birds. .The. seeds germinate quite readily in the ground, but seem to be much happier growing on the trunk of a tree or tree-fern. Here, m the dust, dead leaves, and moisture they germinate to produce a small plant which sends several roots down the trunk to the ground- Sometimes these roots eventually grow together and crush the life from the supporting tree; at others both plants may live .quite happily togeif e tlie bark is stripped from the trunk, the inner bark and wood will be found to be greasy or . s }s' very. The Maoris made use of this property by using the wood of xyytreefor the. skids on which the huee totara logs or the finished canoes were moved from place to place on land.

.In future, no children's contributions will be accepted unless they beat a statement from the head teacher of the tended (or. during school holidays, from a parent) that to the best of his knowledge they *** % iff" aided and original work of the child concerned, _