LANTERN LECTURE

Chronicle (Levin), 3 September 1946, Page 4

LANTERN LECTURE

f » — NATIVE FLORA CLUB Dr. H. H. Allen, Director of the Botany Division of the Plant; Research Bureau,- recently visited1 Levin for the purpose of showing| the Levin Native Flora Club laritern slides of his trip to New Zealand's southern fiordland. He, brought with him a very comprehensive set of slides, depicting' many phases of the trip. First was shown the New Golden Hind, the 90-ton ketch- which was the party's cramped but happy home for several- weeks; theii the dinghies (with outboard motors), which .provided the .-link between ship and shore; and some members of the crew and scientific party. Having been introduced; thus to the dramatis personae and the chief "props," the audience was shown numerous charming scenes "in considerable variety — islands, headlands, bays, bluffs and mountains, often with a foreground of water, giving contrast and added charaeter. Many of the valieys and inlets had the rounded "U" shape of ancient glaciation; other scenes showed sheer cliffs, clothed in beech forest to high:: tide level, with a fringe of the small, flax, Phormium colensoi, between, tide-line and trees. The forests of that locality have not the usual' dark sombreness of the beech forests elsewhere, their eolour and line being broken by an admixture' of rimu, westland pine and southern rata, this latter being in flower when Dr. Allan saw it. Some of the 'ffowers of that region were shown in "close-ups," a particularly beautiful one being Celmisia petiolata, of special interest as in sheltered parts, at sea level on Facile Bluff, this plant grows "not a foot above tide-mark.- Elsewhere it is mostly common at two to three thousand feet on the mountains. The forest interior at Facile Harbour has vast numbers of mosses and liverworts. These make walking arduous, as large green hummocks of liverworts on the forest floor provide most uncertain foothold. Dr. Allan's herbarium collection from this region included over 80 species of mosses and over 120 species of liverworts; and so plentiful were they, that it was possible to collect half that number in about half an hour. A notable feature of the very windswept regions of the Sounds was that the scrub showed very marked wind-channels, these being clearly noticeable in the pictures. At the conclusion of this part of the screening, Dr. Allan showed a collection of slides depicting, scenes and flowers of the sub-Antarctic islands. During the war, meh were stationed at Campbell Islands, 'and though there were no professional botanists amongst them, two or three enthusiastic amateurs « collected valuable specimens. Some very outstanding plants dccur in these islands, a feature common to ■ several unallied genera being their big handsome leaves. Stilbocarpa polaris is a large herb of the ivy family. A connection of the carrot is Anisotome latifolia, with acanthus-like leaves, having a spread of three feet and a large many-flowered bloom. This has a "poor relation" in the Tararuas, Anisotome aromaticum, whose dainty flower-heads barely reqch six inches in height. Pleurophyllum criniferum and Pleurophyllum speciosum (the latter with

elegantly fluted leaves) are handsome daisy-herbs with purplecentred flowers; while Bulbinella rossii, a sturdy bulbous plant with: bronze flowers, has an affinity with the smaller, yellow-flowered "Maori Onion." All of the foregoing would grace with distinction the most exclusive garden. So beautiful are the plants on Adams Island, one of the small sub Antarctic islands, that it is called, "Fairchild's Garden," this area of . the, most, the world. ?? r"-V'r X - / '' Th|s, .ian,tern ':i^t^re- ^as mucfl, enjoyed ' by' 'those'' present, thte" audience expr essing appreciation by acclamation.