292 Transactions. 



student will have little difficulty in accepting the foregoing as good species 

 well distinguished from each other by habit, but if he extend his observations 

 to . ■ . . forms in the living state over wide areas, he will not fail to find 

 them connected by transition states which he will frequently be puzzled 

 to refer to one book species rather than another, partaking as they do of the 

 characters of two or more of these species " (17) ; and he suggests that it 

 might be preferable to regard them as mere forms of a most variable single 



Cheeseman says of C. thymifoha that in its ordinary state it is distinct 

 enough, but that the large-leaved forms pass directly into C. niscifoUa, 

 and narrow-leaved varieties into C. angusiissima (16). 



G. M. Thomson (18) regards C. angustissitna as a mere altitudinal variety 

 of C. thymijolia. 



The botanical characters of C. ruscifolia, as given by Cheeseman, are : 

 " A shrub or small tree with spreading 4-angled branches, very variable 

 in height and degree of robustness, sometimes attaining 25 ft. with a trunk 

 10 in. diameter, at others not more than 2 4: ft., with almost herbaceous 

 stems. Leaves 1-3 in., ovate or oblong-ovate, acute or acuminate, rounded 

 or cordate at the base, sessile or very shortly petioled, 3 -5-nerved. Racemes 

 drooping, many-flowered, 4-12 in. long or more, slightly pubescent. Pedicels 

 slender, ^-^ in., bracteolate at the base. Flowers small, green, |-J in. 

 diameter, strongly proterogynous. Sepals broadly ovate, subacute. Fila- 

 ments elongating after fertihsation. Fruit globose, purplish-black, of 5-8 

 cocci, enveloped by the persistent enlarged juicy petals " (16). 



The herbaceous-stemmed shrub form of this is the more common. It 

 takes this form in the open country and where the soil is dry. The roots 

 creep and interlace below the surface, and in the spring stems shoot up from 

 every part of the root, sometimes forming an almost impenetrable jungle. 

 The stems may grow 10 ft. to 15 ft. in a single season. The tree form often 

 grows solitary in the bush that lines the banks of streams. Shelter and 

 moisture seem necessary to the attainment of this form. 



C. ruscifolia occurs abundantly in all three islands of New Zealand, the 

 Kermadec Islands, and the Chatham Islands, and is met with from sea- 

 level to a height of 3,500 ft. C thjmifolia occurs only in the North and South 

 Islands of New Zealand ; and C. angustissima is still more restricted in its 

 distribution, occurring only in subalpine localities in the Provinces of Otago 

 and Canterbury. These two species differ from the former chiefly in the 

 size of the plant and of the leaves, and in their annual habit. All three 

 forms are met with in abundaik'e in the immediate neighbourhood of Dunedin. 

 The tree form of C. ruscifolia may be found in the bush that lines the banks 

 of the Water of Leith and its tributaries ; while C. thymifolia and C. angustis- 

 sima are plentiful on the hills that encircle the town. 



All parts of the plant are poisonous, but the young shoots are more 

 toxic than the leaves and fruit. The same has been noted of C. imjrti- 

 folia (15). 



In the case of human beings it is usually the so-called berry that is eaten, 

 though the shoots too are sometimes eaten by children. Of the berry, only 

 the seed is poisonous. The strained juice is harmless, and from it the Maoris 

 and early settlers made a non-intoxicating wine that was drunk in large 

 quantities (19). Indeed, in the very early days the tutu was known as the 

 wine-berry shrub. This wine, however, has not always proved to be above 

 suspicion. Canon Stack (20) relates that on one occasion after partaking 

 of some tutu-wine he was seized with alarming symptoms ; he lost all feeling 



