New Zealand plants and their story . rgest leaves andmost showy flowers being the bush-lawyer (R. australis), while thatof wet forest is the swamp-lawyer {R. schmidelioides), a creepingground-plant in its juvenile form and not a climber except in itsmuch later adult stage. Finally, there is a species which does notclimb, but creeps on the ground, the creeping-lawyer {R. parvus)of Westland ; but this is not a forest-plant. One of the commonest root-climbers, which with its leathery,green, sword-like leaves gives a characteristic appearance to theNorth Island forests, is the kiekie {Freycinetia
New Zealand plants and their story . rgest leaves andmost showy flowers being the bush-lawyer (R. australis), while thatof wet forest is the swamp-lawyer {R. schmidelioides), a creepingground-plant in its juvenile form and not a climber except in itsmuch later adult stage. Finally, there is a species which does notclimb, but creeps on the ground, the creeping-lawyer {R. parvus)of Westland ; but this is not a forest-plant. One of the commonest root-climbers, which with its leathery,green, sword-like leaves gives a characteristic appearance to theNorth Island forests, is the kiekie {Freycinetia Banksii), whose fleshybracts, called tawhara by the Maoris, are sweet and edible. The 52 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. roots fasten this plant very firmly to its support, being given offat right angles, or thereabouts, to the stiff climbing-stem, and,passing right round the support if slender, finally put forth manyrootlets, which are parallel, or nearly so, to the main roots, andclose together. Other root - climbers, one or other of which is. On the left a non-climbing shoot of the clinging climbing-rata(Metrosideros scandens), and on the right a climbing-shoot. [Esmond Atkinson del. characteristic of most New Zealand forests, are the various speciesof climbing-ratas. These, when young, cling most closely to the tree-trunks by means of numerous short roots, their leaves more or lessflattened against the bark, but finally, as the stems become cord-like,or rope-like, the roots wither away, and the stem is no longer pressedagainst its support. For the different species the Maoris had the ROOT-CLIMBERS. 53 general name aka, but here a few popular names are scarlet climbing-rata (Metrosideros florida), the giant of the group,has cable-like stems, sometimes 6 inches or more in diameter, coveredwith loose bark. It bears splendid scarlet flowers. The whiteclimbing-rata {M. alhiflora), the clinging climbing-rata {M. scandens)(see text-fig., p. 52), the hairy climbing-rata {M. Colen
Size: 1444px × 1730px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectplants, bookyear1919
