A Note From "The Hoe.” A Leaf-Changing Native

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 96, 17 January 1935, Page 7

A Note From "The Hoe.” A Leaf-Changing Native

A few days ago, a visitor to my garden stopped to admire a young lancewood (Bseudopanax Crassifolium) and remarked that she had never seen a tall specimen of that attractive shrub. Actually, she had seen many full-grown lancewoods, but as the plant has the unique habit of completely changing the form of its foliage three times at various stages in its growth, the misconception is easily understood. In fact, many of the world’s greatest botanists, including Sir J. Hooker, were so misled by this subject that they classed young and mature trees as distinct species. The reason for so much misunderstanding is due to the fact that the lancewood which most people know is the young sapling with its unique, long, thin and leathery . leaves, pointing downwards, like the ribs of a closed umbrella/ As it grows the foliage changes. It becomes wider and ceases to be deflexed, and is not so long. In fact, such is the contrast between the leaves of young and mature trees that the two growing together are invariably regarded as distinct species by the uninitiated. Probably no other genus has this remarkable habit.