PLANT LIFE.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 April 1922, Page 5

PLANT LIFE.

NEW ZEALAND BOTANY. An address on “Plant Life” was given by Mr. M. Fraser at the fortnightly meeting of the New Plymouth Victoria League last night. His remarks had particular reference to the theory that geographically New Zealand was only part of a large continent which existed in the Pacific ages ago, and he proceeded to trace the connection by means of various plants, pointing out certain peculiarities which they had developed in the intervening years. Mr. Fraser stated that in New Zealand there were 1576 species or families of plants, and of the total there were 1143 which belonged to the Dominion and were found nowhere else. No mystery of the world was equal to the botany of this country, he said. They had trees which came from as far away as the Malay Archipelago, which gave a light to the argument that the land formerly extended up through Torres Straits. It was interesting to show where various plants liad come from, and to note the curious departure from their natural order. The cabbage tree had the characteristics of a true lily, and the supplejack was another of this type, while a clipping of southern rata produced bore a similarity to the English myrtle. New Zealand had two olive trees, one of which was the maire, but in its transition it had lost some of its properties. In New Zealand the kauri was found only in the most northern part of the North Island, but a kauri was also grown in Borneo. About 700 miles north of the latter place was New Caledonia, where kauri gum was found, showing that the tree had grown there. The karamu belonged to the coffee family, as grown in the South Sea Islands, and the toupata, or looking-glass tree, was also one of the species. The hongi-hongi may have come from the Macassar Straits. It was identical with the species from which strychnine was secured, but in New Zealand it had dropped the poison. Numerous other interesting illustrations were cited on similar lines by Mr. Fraser, and at the conclusion of his address he was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.