FLORA OF COLLINGWOOD

Chronicle (Levin), 7 March 1946, Page 7

FLORA OF COLLINGWOOD

INTERESTIN G TALK IN LEVIN A well-attended meeting of the Levin Native Flora Club was held recently, Mr. I. D. Parsons prehding. The guest speaker was Dr. G. Cone, oi Wellington, who gave a particularly interesting lecture on che flora of the Collingwood district. Dr. Cone said that one did not generally realise that Collingwdoa was about the same latitude as Levin. This area surrounded the very sheitered Golden Bay, and owing to the great diversity of its topography and soil, the district had a number of distinct and interesting plant associations. The speaker liscea seven. The first was dune vegetation on Farewell Spit, which was a great area oi pure sand. The plant covering was graded from the sand-binding plants and grasses on the outer edge to such plants as manuka, phorium, wild Irishman, pimelia arenaria and coprosma accrosa in the more sheitered hollows. Secondly, there were the tidal swamps in the numerous tidal inlets, and' in West Wanganui, which was a tidal harbour. A tidal fall of 16 feet took the sea out of sight at low tide. Green eeigrass (zostera) was exposed b: the out-going tide. The tidal swamps produced acres of the jointed rush (leptocarpus) and wide strips of samolus, a carpet oi white flowers stretching for miles. Then there was a coastal clifi forest remnants, Dr. Cone continued, in the vicinity of the Golden Bay Cement Works. Amid fine scenery, with big blocks of lime stone on the sea shore, grew whau trees and the Mable Island lily (arthropodium cirrhatum) . The fourth was pakihi, gravei terraces, and a large part of the low-lying land between the rivers Takaka and Aorere. In much of the latter there was a strong iron pan, solid as concrete, one of two feet beneath the surface, which seaiea «»on une ground. Manuka predominated. In the neighbourhood of Collingwood were to be found logs of yellow pine, buried just under the surface of the ground, though there was no record or description of the bush in which they once grew. The area oi pakihi consisting of gravei terracecarried a sparse and stunted scrub which abutted sharply on the limestone area where there was goou grazing. Fifthly, there was the inland forest on the mountain ranges, which was mainly beech of five different species. Other trees found ihere were kamahi, ratas, totara, white pine. rimu and other Dacrvdiums. Next there was alpine vegetation. The mounbam rising to 6000 feet carried mainr herbaceous plants and some small shrubs.rmaily, there was the coastal district forest, a remarkable association of plants, mainly confined to the West Wanganui district. This conlained the gi ea test mixture of plants to be seen any where in New Zealand. There were common typical South Island trees and alsc many trees typical of the far north. The iate Dr. L. Cockayne had iistea 905 species in the north-west district of the South Island, Vf which there were 39 endemics (plants found in no other . part of the world ) . Most of these endemics were in the alpine regions, but a notable oue of the lowiana coasttu district forest was Senecio hectori. a very large-leafed tree daisy, with yellow flowers, which fortunatelv escaped the depredations of goats. Another notable endemic was plltosporum dalii, with serrated leaves, and also the abundant Dracophyllum townsoni, also with a serrated edge. Dr. Cone said that a strange point was the fact that many species which occurred in the far north oi New Zealand were absent from the intervening areas, but then occurred again in the Collingwood district. There were about • seventeen typical northerners in this coast district, notable among them being Blechnum frazeri, Dracophyllum latipolium, Metrosideros parkinsoni and Libocedrus doniana. The occurrence of these plants in such diverse parts of New Zealand was a mystery. Perhaps the godwits had something to do with it, as these migratory birds used the beaches of the Collingwood area as a point of arrival and departure, alighting also on the northern beaches. Another possible suggestion was the carriage of fine seeds by powerful upper winds. The lecture was received with keen attention by those present, several of whom had had personal connections with the district described. During Dr. Cone's stay in Levin a party of nineteen spent a day up Canyon Creek, in the Tararuas. A few hours of rambling amidst pleasant surroundings proved very enjoyable. The next meeting of the club takes place on March 28.