106 Mr William Gorric on Iht 



Addiiional Notes on the Hardiness of New Zealand Plants . 

 By Mr William Gorrie, President. 



(Read 8th July 1880.) 



At a meeting of the Edinburgh Botanical Society, held 

 on January 8, I read notes on thirty New Zealand plants 

 that had withstood the unusually severe winter of 1878-79 

 in my garden. The winter of 1879-80 has been still more 

 destructive of plant life, in consequence of the greater 

 intensity of its frost having been preceded by such an 

 ungenial growing season, that many plants never attained 

 to a properly matured state. I now submit the following 

 remarks on the effects of the past winter, which for sake of 

 references are given in the numeral succession formerly 

 adopted.* 



1. PittospoTum tenuifolium. — The 5 feet high plant on a 

 south wall was reduced to 4 feet, most of its young shoots, 

 and some older branches that stood out from the wall, 

 having been killed. Only a few of the smaller plants in 

 the open ground are now so far alive that they are producing 

 shoots from, at, and below the earth's surface. 



2. Plagianthns hehdinus. — The 23 feet high plant on a 

 south wall lost about 7 feet of its top from some unaccount- 

 able cause, but all below is in perfect health. The 15 feet 

 high plant in the open ground was uninjured ; and has 

 now a handsome, profusely leafy top. 



3. Pkujianthus divaricatus. — Having lost fully a third of 

 its height, the plant is now only about 2 feet, but is push- 

 ing out young shoots freely. 



4. Aristotelia racemosa was killed to the ground on a 

 south wall, as well as in the open borders, but all the plants 

 are reproducing healthy shoots from above their roots. 



5. Discaria Toiimatou is perfectly free from injury, but 

 has not flowered this season, although growing freely. 



* The minimums of the seven months of winter 1879-80, in which the 

 temperature fell below the freezing point at the Edinburgh Royal Botanic 

 Garden — within three-quarters of a mile from Rait Lodge— were as follows : 

 by a thermometer exposed to direct radiation, November 1879, 18°; December 



1879, 1°; January 1880, 19°; February 1880, 23°; March 1880, 22°; April 



1880, 27"; May 1880, 29". 



