146 XEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



CHAPTER XL 



THE STORY OF SOME COMMON PLANTS CONTINUED. 



Abundance of manuka Tea-tree or ti-tree ? Various stations of manuka The 

 different species and forms of L&ptosp&rmum Uses The fuchsia as a de- 

 ciduous tree Object of leaf-fall The species of Fuchsia Construction of 

 the flower Contrivances for cross-fertilisation The wood and its properties. 



THE MANUKA. 



THE manuka of the Maori, the tea-tree of the colonist, and Leptosper- 

 mum scoparium of the scientist, should also be well known to every 

 reader. Unlike the plants already dealt with, it has not suffered 

 loss at the hands of the white man, but, on the contrary, has become 



J ? 



aggressive, and at the present moment occupies more territory than 

 in the pre-European days. This is ow r ing to its power of thriving on 

 any kind of soil, wet or dry, to the great fertility and number of its 

 seeds, and to its habit of blooming at an abnormally early age for a 

 shrub. The blossoms are distinctly showy a manuka heath in due 

 season being a sheet of snowy whiteness. 



The flowers have a five-lobed calyx, the tube of which is attached 

 to the ovary. There are five spreading petals and a great number of 

 stamens. The fruit is a woody capsule containing many seeds, most of 

 which are unfertile. 



This structure of the flower shows the shrub to belong to the same 

 family as the myrtle and rata in New Zealand, while abroad it has 

 relatives in the gum-trees of Australia and the clove and allspice of 

 the tropics. 



Its leaves are small and stiff, and, like those of the familv in general, 



*/ c^ 



extremely aromatic. This property has led to their use as a substitute 

 for tea by the enterprising pioneers, who would probably cloak the 

 unpleasant taste by means of no small allowance of sugar. From this 

 use the English name ' tea-tree ' h;is arisen, and through corrupt 

 spelling the spurious Maori " ti-tree ' has followed, a term beloved of 

 journalists. Worse than this is the usage in South Otago, where, 

 ' plain for all eyes to see," is the legend ' Ti-Tri " on a certain wayside 

 station. 



