THE STORY OF SOME COMMON PLANTS. 141 



play their part, and so there is little fear but that the cabbage- 

 tree will always remain with us as a truly wild plant ; in fact, in 

 some parts of New Zealand it is on the increase, as in the swampy 

 ground of northern Auckland, where, when the close-ranked kahi- 

 katea forest is felled, stately files of this graceful tree rise up in 

 its stead. 



The genus Cordyline is somewhat widespread, its species being 

 found wild in southern Asia, the Malay Archipelago, the Pacific- 

 islands, Australia, New Zealand, and South America. The special 

 species we are considering, C. australis, is confined to New Zealand ; 

 but, though it is extremely abundant in the two main Islands, and its 

 fruits are readily spread by birds, it is found in only one locality in 

 Stewart Island, and does not occur at all in either the subantarctic 

 islands or the Chatham Islands. 



There are four other species of Cordyline in New Zealand, one of 

 which, the toi (C. indivisa) (fig. 61), is a magnificent object, with its 

 broad, arching leaves furnished with a conspicuous orange-coloured 

 midrib. It is common at rather high levels in the North Island, but 

 descends to sea-level in the South at the Otago Sounds. On the east 

 of the South Island are a few plants on Banks Peninsula. Where the 

 service road to the Main Trunk line has been made along the base of 

 ice-capped Ruapehu, and the forest has been cleared, are splendid 

 natural plantations of this beautiful tree, which grows in some places, 

 indeed, by the thousand. 



The common cabbage-tree is easy of cultivation. It will grow 

 in almost any kind of soil, and may be readily raised from seed, this 

 being the best method to secure a stock of plants. When a tree is cut 

 down level with the ground it does not die, but will usually put forth 

 new shoots from the underground stem. Even at an early age it is 

 very ornamental, and young specimens, whose trunks are not yet 

 developed, are eminently suitable for small gardens. There is a 

 purplish-leaved variety, and also one with variegated foliage. More- 

 over, the cabbage-tree is a variable species, and many foims distinct 

 for garden purposes may be met with in the wild state. 



In a land where the natural vegetable products were not of much 

 economic value, the most unlikely plants were pressed into the service 

 of the aborigines, and any possessing the slightest beneficial property 

 \vere made use of. The cabbage-tree, or, as the Maoris designated it, 



