Tree that Catches Birds

Horowhenua Chronicle, 23 November 1915, Page 2

Tree that Catches Birds

Ai the laat meeting of the Linnoan . jcicly jlr Hotelier, the secretary, s:u i; 5 a keen botanist, exhibited a j kiv of u trou which catches little ■ ■iids. btj si (id it Wat, found in tlio I .i;u\ ami IjuaJi and along the northern . uors. Little birds such as Oluo i re it a jutted through tiic panicles, and ..ore caught by the feathers or feet oil .■sticky i-.ecrei.ion. It appeared to him it Ijo a ca.se in which, a tree secured i ;e distribution ul its fruit by adherence i larger birds. The stems supporting i le doners were covered with a viscid ■--.nil like bird-lime. He had kept tlio 1 (.a.' he \wu> showing hanging up ill a i ".'in lor nine months iu water; and tne ..ieky exudation was as potent as ever ! he plant grew to a height of about i : )fL • .Ur A. G. Hamilton (president) said i iat an island off the Queensland coaiit v -ips called Skeleton Island, because ol i.iu number of birds that perished in l.oeis of that kind or a related vine. I lie writer looked the subject up ill . :oore and JJetcbo'a out-of-date Handi jok of Austral'.: E'lora, and found no j ention at all oi.the fact that the tree i tches birds. Much other highlyi.itinned English matter was given coai ruing the tree, which is I'isoaia i. inioneaua (named filter ite discoverer, iue Jlrown). iSurely a highly interestnatural fact like the o» irds by the tree should be of nioro value li'om an education point of view U'.aii the lact that tlio calyx of tlio ale flower is campanulate. The : iok tells iuj that the'tree is bushy, tall, ; ud .spineless, " has ovate leaves from : '.iur to eight inches fang, flowers that are mostly bisexual and arranged! in I j niiiial leafless panicles, and that the unit calyx in about an inch long, and owned by (small withered limbs.—Uy " \Vobbegoug." in the Sydney Sun.