FLORA CLUB'S OUTING

Chronicle (Levin), 26 April 1946, Page 4

FLORA CLUB'S OUTING

^ INTERESTING BERRIES SEEN U ! Bad weather, u, week .'agh prevent- : ed the members of the NatiVe Flora Club from visiting the Horse-shoe Bend at Tbkomaru, so - the - outing was postponed till Easter Monday.' Gn learning that- much of the bush at the Horse-shoe (Bend had befen destroyed, the 19 members and friends who assembled at the post1 office decided to change the venae of their outing to a. portion of the bush lining:the Makahika stream. This was reached from Gladstone Road extension and proved to be a really delightful -place. * Though in manyr ways this is not a specially good' time of the' year for studying the bush, a number of interesting berries were seen. A foank about four feet high, next to the river, displayed within a small compass the magenta berries and white flowers of Pratia anguiata (a connection of the lobeiial, the round red berries of Nertera de-: pressa (a very flat-growing trail-ing-herb) and spikes of many tiny, waxy-red berries of Gunnera monoica, each berry being surmounted by a black spot. These spikes were coyly hidden among the leavesT but were worth seeking out. Other - berries were the. deep blue ol the IHy, Dtanefia. (blueberry) ahd the brick- red' of the Coprosma rob-.usta (karamu) and "its' largeleafed relative Coprosma grandi-, foiio (kanono) . The kanono was of further interest as this is its fiowering season, and the distinctive male and female flowers, born on separate trees, were observed. The most charming flowers were those of the cloyingly sweet-scented orchid, Earina autaumnalis. Four different ratas were noticed. i the tree ratd, Metrosideros robusta the climbing rata, Metrosideros scandens (with a few red and orange-red flowers) , and the two white-flowering ratas, Metrosideros florida (aka) with a few late flowers and Metrosideros liypericifolia. Lush banks with a variety of tender ferns, mosses and lichens. ferntrunks decked with filmy ferns, lycopods, climbers and -§eedling trees, and the fine forest trees themselves, all arrariged in perfect setting — these were the forms of plant life in which an enjoyable day was spent, and those present were surprised that so much of interest and beauty was" contained in such a small and inconspicuous area of river bank verdure.