THE FORESTS. 29 



shrubs of various kinds, too, grow high on other trees, whose boughs 

 thus support veritable gardens. In some few cases the flowers 

 of a tree are produced on the thick branches, as in the kohekohe 

 (Dysoxylum spectabile), and not, as usual, from amongst the leaves. 

 Now, should a botanist knowing nothing of New Zealand read this 

 description, he would at once conclude it was no account of the forest 

 of a temperate climate, but of one in the tropics. And this is quite 

 true : the common forest of New Zealand, owing partly to its origin, but 

 far more to the moist and equable climate, must be classed with the 

 tropical, not with the temperate forests. 



ORIGIN OF SPECIAL FOREST PLANTS. 



The forest also tells us a good deal about the evolution of the 

 wonderful adaptations of certain plants to the conditions it provides. 

 On walking through its interior one cannot fail to notice the sub- 

 dued light, which is so much less than in the open. Above all things, 

 most plants require sunlight. Without this they cannot manufacture 

 in their leaf laboratories their necessary food from the carbonic acid 



/ 



of the air. In a forest, then, there must be a struggle for the sunlight. 

 The tall trees meet the difficulty by raising their tops high into the 

 heavens. But with the smaller plants it is another matter, and these 

 must either become attuned to a minimum of light, or make some 

 special effort to get their fair share. Consequently, we find a spindling- 

 habit of growth in many young forest-trees long, straight, thin stems, 

 and few lateral branches ; ' drawn up to the light ' ' is the gardener's 

 phrase. 



Carrv out this idea a little further, and vou have certain plants 



/ */ j. 



putting out long shoots, which, too weak to stand alone, lean against 

 other trees for support. Go a little further still, and such long shoots 

 develop certain organs to assist them to cling to the supporting tree. 

 So, by slow degrees, modification after modification arises for the 

 end in view, until the wonderful family of lianes or climbing-plants is 

 evolved, whose roots can enjoy the cool and rich soil of the forest- 

 floor, but whose crowns dispute with the tree-tops for the light of 

 heaven, and under its influence bring forth their flowers, ripen their 

 fruits, and manufacture stores of food within their green leaves. 



Lianes may be conveniently divided into scramblers, root climbers, 

 twiners, and tendril climbers, names which speak for themselves. 

 Fuchsia Colensoi, a much more slender plant than the tree -fuchsia 



