1923] WILSON, NORTHERN TREES IN SOUTHERN LANDS 8S 



Transvaal and in some other places in South Africa this Plane-tree is a 

 success. At Maritzburg in Natal, it flourishes and in the Botanic Garden 

 there it makes a fine avenue. At Pretoria P. Wrightii S. Wats., native 

 of Arizona and New Mexico, is planted as a street tree and grows well 

 though it is inferior for this purpose to the London Plane on account of 

 the narrower acute lobes in the leaves which are inclined to droop and 

 furnish less shade. The presence of this unusual tree was a great surprise 

 and I could scarcely believe it was the true P. Wrightii S. Wats. I have 

 since compared specimens from Pretoria with authentically named material 

 in the herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum and its identity is certain. 

 Evidently this western Plane finds the climate of Pretoria to its liking 

 though as the trees are all young and now not more than twenty-five feet 

 tall it is too early to judge of its permanent value. 



The Maples thrive indifferently in Australasia and the Lindens, Horse- 

 chestnuts and Chestnuts not at all. Here and there the English Elm 

 (Ulmus procera Salisb.) luxuriates. Round the race course at Tumut 

 in New South Wales there are some exceptionally fine trees of this Elm. 

 At least I believe them to be this species though their habit of growth 

 recalled the American White Elm (Ulmus americana L.) At Ballarat in 

 Victoria a memorial avenue some two miles long to the soldiers who took 

 part in the Great War is of Elm-trees. I hope that they will flourish but 

 am not sanguine about them. 



Various species of Ash have been planted in some quantity in south- 

 eastern Australia and New Zealand and here and there they grow very 

 well. The European Fraxinus excelsior L. and the American F. americana 

 L. do equally well where the soil is deep and good. At Campbelltown 

 near Sydney and again at Greendale on the Canterbury Plain I saw F. 

 oregona Nutt. growing freely. At Adelaide grow many Ash-trees including 

 quite a good avenue of F. chinensis Roxb. in which the trees are taller and 

 of greater girth than I have seen this tree elsewhere including its native 

 country China. In the southern parts of New Zealand it is possible, though 

 I scarcely think probable, that Ash may be useful in forest planting as a 

 source of timber but in Australia and Tasmania it cannot compete with 

 certain species of Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus gigantea Dehnh. and E. obliqua 

 L'Herit. for example) which yield wood of very similar character. 



The Birches are not a success in Australasia though in New Zealand the 

 European Betula pendula Roth has been much planted in mixed stands 

 with other exotic trees. Of Beech I saw a few healthy trees of Fagus 

 sylvatica L. on a private estate, Stoke, just outside Nelson in New Zealand 

 but have no other record of meeting with it on my travels through Aus- 

 tralasia. The Black Walnut (Juglafts nigra L.) does not thrive in these 

 southern countries but at Gosford not many miles from Sydney, New 

 South Wales, I saw several species of Hickory doing well. The man in 

 charge claimed to have no difficulty in transplanting them, his method 

 being to severe the tap root with a sharp knife and sear it with a hot iron. 



