THE STORY OF SOME COMMON PLANT*. 149 



There is also a form of manuka with double white flowers which 

 was discovered a few years ago by Mr. E. Phillips Turner, Inspector 

 of Scenic Reserves, but it has hardly got into cultivation as yet. 



The common species of manuka are not nearly so much cultivated 

 in gardens as they deserve. Not only are they extremely beautiful 

 when in flower, but they will grow well in any kind of soil. Young 

 plants may be procured from any heath in abundance, or raised from 

 seed, which germinates readily. 



One of the mistletoes is very frequently parasitic on Leptospermum 

 scoparium. It is a very small shrub with curious jointed stems, but 

 no leaves. It rejoices, or perhaps the contrary rather, in the name, 

 much bigger than itself, of Korthalsella salicornioides. When this 

 parasite becomes too abundant, the drain on the " life-blood ' of its 

 host becomes too great, and the branch supporting the mistletoe, 

 or even the shrub as a whole, will die. 



The common manuka (L. scoparium) has not usually a trunk 

 stout enough to be of much use commercially, but it affords excellent 

 firewood. It is also frequently used for brush fences, for the walls 

 of whares, and for brooms, while the long straight poles are valuable 

 for various purposes in gardens. 



The colour of the wood differs in the two species. This has led 

 to L. scoparium being called " red" and L. ericoides " white " tea-tree. 

 As the leaves of both species are distinctly aromatic, a fragrant oil, 

 which might possess medicinal properties, could be distilled from 

 them. 



The timber of the white tea-tree (L. ericoides) is of greater value 

 than is that of its smaller relative. It has been used for wheelwrights' 

 work, house-blocks, piles for small jetties, and fencing purposes. It 

 also is highly valued for firewood. 



The genus Leptospermum is made up of about thirty species, ex- 

 tending from New Zealand in the south to the Malay Archipelago 

 in the north, by way of Australia and New r Caledonia. By far the 

 greatest number of species are Australian. 



THE NATIVE FUCHSIA. 



There is hardly a forest in New Zealand, either primeval or almost 

 obliterated, where the native fuchsia, the kotukutiiku of the Maoris, 

 with its thick irregular trunk and hanging strips of brown and papery 



