96 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



These plants appear to be wonderfully tenacious of life, — indeed 

 it seems to be almost impossible to kill them. A number of 

 trees were once cut down and thrown over a fence on to the 

 shingly beach of a creek. For eight months they lay there, 

 one fortnight rolling up and down in the salt tide, the next 

 baking high and dry in the sun. At last an exceptionally 

 high tide lifted them back again over the fence into the 

 paddock. As soon as they found themselves upon soil once 

 more, they sent out rootlets, and shortly afterwards were seen 

 to be budding vigorously. 



A gum-digger in the north made his chimney of cabbage- 

 tree' stems, digging a trench, and setting in the trunks side by 

 side. These were then nailed together, and for some months a 

 fire was kept alight continuously, — until the stems were 

 burned through, and only parts of the outside bark left. The 

 man then left the place, and within a short time, that which 

 had been a blackened chimney, became a mass of living green, 

 Even a dry chip, flying from the axe, will, if it falls into a damp 

 place, root and bud. The fibre of the leaves is perhaps stronger 

 than that of the flax (Phormium) , and is much used by the 

 settlers in place of twine. The leaves are well adapted for 

 the making of paper. 



The flowers of the various kinds are all white or cream- 

 coloured, and give out a strong, sweet scent. They are much 

 visited by bees. The fruit is not capsular, as is usual among 

 the liliaceae, but succulent, and contains a number of angular 

 black seeds. 



The cabbage-tree differs from most of its tribe in bearing a 

 huge tap-root, instead of bulbs or rhizomes. This root, when 

 the plant is dead, rots away in the ground, and leaves a 

 narrow, round hole, sometimes eight feet in depth. Ferns and 

 small plants grow over the hole, and an unwary rider may be 

 easily thrown if the horse catch his foot in it. 



The decaying leaves of the cabbage-tree are often phos- 

 phorescent at night. Pigeons feed upon the milky-white 



