24 THE SHRUBS AND HERBACEOUS PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 
needing an acquired taste even as the mango, Side by side with it 
is the ngaio (Mioporum laetum) with punctured leaves having 
translucent oil glands and representing the Verbenacez. Still nearer 
the beach two small trees demand attention. Both have exceedingly 
hard wood of small dimensions, and both are termed ake-ake by the 
settlers, signifying “for ever and ever.” One indeed is the ake- 
rautangi of the natives (Dodonaea viscosa). 
Leaving the foreshore it is often difficult to force one’s way 
through a belt of the commonest fern (Pteris aquilinea, 37), and a 
second barrier may be met in the shape of the bush lawyer (Rubus 
schmidelioides) so called on account of its tenacious hooked leaves. 
At last the bed of the brook is gained, and the forward pro- 
gress is possible for a chain or two till a waterfall intervenes, richly 
hung with ferns and mosses. There is a carpeting of a variety of 
Hymenophylla (35, 36), Adiantum (33), Trichomanes (30), and 
Lomaria ferns, and probably the fern-ally Botricium (26). The 
sides of the cascade are hung with pendant Asplenium flaccidum 
(24), and richly coated with moss. Almost fearful of placing the 
foot on a delicate filmi-fern (35), or of the odd-looking kidney-fern 
(T. reneforme 30) one is too spellbound to retire. The lavish hand 
of Nature’s luxuriance fascinates all but the native born. 
Even advancement means entanglement in the clutches of one of 
the lily tribe, gai-gai (Astelia), and retirement courts disaster by 
tripping over the half-hidden rattans of the supple-jack (Rhipo- 
gonum scandens), a true sarsaparilla. 
Overhead the fuchsia (F. excorticata 9), with its azure pollen, 
is being fertilized by the bell-bird as he passes from flower to 
flower, with intense blue viscid masses adhering to the base of his 
bill. Moreover, the fuchsia is tri-morphic, like the English purple 
loose-strife. Its fruit, called by the Maories ‘‘ Konini,’ when per- 
fectly ripe, is one of the few palatable berries. Fuchsia kirku, a 
decumbrunt species, has very much larger pale red fruits, and is 
often found in English greenhouses. 
The kindred Epilobiums creep everywhere, and appear to ime, 
from their ‘‘ continuity of variation,” to merge gradually from one 
species to another. 
