THE NATIONAL FLOWER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1155, 7 October 1913, Page 3

THE NATIONAL FLOWER.

KOWHAI v. CLEMATIS. Last night’s Feilding Star says : —“The Manawatu Herald wants to know why Feilding chose the Kowhai for the national flower, instead of the 'clinging Clematis.’ There is some dis dinction about the Kowhai, and it is yellow-which means that it makes itself seen in the bush. It stands out like a floral Egmont. The tree is one mass of bloom, without any foliage to detract from the flower. The Kowhai is unusual, to?, in that its leaf does not come until after the flower. It is granted that the Clematis is a charming flower, but why honour a dinger ? And if the Clematis must be crowned, why should uot Foxton adopt it as the Foxtonian floral emblem ?” If there is distinction about the colour ol the beautiful Kowhai bloom —yellow—bow much more distinctive the glistening snowy white of tlie Clematis ? The crown of Egmont Is capped in almost perpetual snow —the colour of the Clematis, not the yellow of the Kowhai. We are uot expert in nature’s subtle language of colour, but we do know that white is the emblem of purity. What belter flower therefore could be conceived for New Zealand than the pure white bloom of the clematis. Purity is on the heights—the clematis sends its vines upward, passing through almost impenetrable obstructions and undergrowth till it finally crowns the giant tree tops with a truly magnificent mantle of white, to be likened only to the eternal snows of the mountain tops. It is emblematic of the growth of the super-man. The clematis as our national flower should inspire all with lofty and pure ideals. The reference to the word “clinging” is suggestive of good. In our next issue Mr Jas. Stevens, of Palmerston N., will relate through these columns other reasons why the clematis should be selected as the national flower.