New Zealand plants and their story . epiphytic). Thusthe perching-kohuhu {Pittosporum cornifolium) and the thick-leavedkohuhu (P. Kirkii) are of this class, and it is interesting that all theother members of the genus are ordinary terrestrial trees or puka {Griselinia lucida), with its great leathery shining greenleaves, is frequent high up in the forks of some forest giant;but it also grows on rocks near the sea, and under cultivationmakes a most handsome shrub for the open border. Some of theorchids are perching-plants—, the common dendrobe {DendrohiumCunninghamii)—and these h
New Zealand plants and their story . epiphytic). Thusthe perching-kohuhu {Pittosporum cornifolium) and the thick-leavedkohuhu (P. Kirkii) are of this class, and it is interesting that all theother members of the genus are ordinary terrestrial trees or puka {Griselinia lucida), with its great leathery shining greenleaves, is frequent high up in the forks of some forest giant;but it also grows on rocks near the sea, and under cultivationmakes a most handsome shrub for the open border. Some of theorchids are perching-plants—, the common dendrobe {DendrohiumCunninghamii)—and these have a special root-tissue which is quitespongy, and can absorb whatever moisture drips on to it. Someof these perching-plants build up great spongy masses of soil on thetree-trunks, and it is the water-holding capacity of this soil which inpart enables epiphytes in general to live under what appear suchadverse circumstances. Certain ferns and lycopods are generallyepiphytic-^, a variety of the drooping-spleenwort {Asplenium. Fig. 35.—The prickly shield-fein (FulystkhuM veslilum), an importantconstituent of the undergrowth growing at the outskirts of a mountainsouthern-beech (Nothofagiis dijfortioides) forest. The leaves of the fernare 3 feet long. Base of Big Ben (Canterbury). [Photo, L. Cockayne.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectplants, bookyear1919
