DECEMBER. 27 



berries, and partly at least as regards the two last named 

 on account of their vigorous growth as climbers, for they 

 scramble over other plants and seek to monopolise their 

 light. The tutu also has succulent and attractive fruit 

 which we might expect to be scattered in the same way 

 as the others named, yet it is not increasing. Perhaps the 

 fact of its growing near the edge of the bush, where futile 

 attempts are made from time to time to eradicate gorse 

 and broom by biirning, may account for its disappearance 

 from many localities, for it is a somewhat easily destroyed 

 plant. 



Twenty years ago there were various other plants besides 

 Tutu to be found in our Town Belt which are very difficult 

 to find now owing to the spread of the introduced plants. 

 The common little orchid Corysanthes and the curious 

 grayish-green Gastrodia have disappeared from many of 

 their old haunts ; the curious Moon wort (Botrychnim 

 fertiatum) and the little Adder's Tongue Fern (Ophio- 

 glossum) are things of the past ; while the liliaceous 

 Dianella, with its little nodding flowers followed in 

 autumn by dark blue berries, is among the missing. 

 These and many others are not rare plants, for they can 

 be met with in abundance by going a little further afield, 

 but they have disappeared from spots in the Town Belt 

 where formerly they could always be found ; they have 

 been crowded out of existence by stronger and more 

 aggressive species. 



The Tutu (Coriarid) is a plant with many peculiar 

 characters and points of interest. It is evidently of great 

 antiquity, as evidenced by its own distribution and that of 

 its genus. Three species of Coriaria are recognised as 

 occurring in New Zealand, and all of them occur in the 

 neighbourhood of Dunedin. The common perennial shrubby 

 form C. rugcifolia grows near the edge of the bush right 

 down to the sea level ; the other two C. thymifolia (the 

 thyme-leaved form) and C. angnstisslma are only found 

 at or above 2000 feet. They are much smaller than the 

 common shrubby species, more slender and delicate in their 

 leafage, and they die down to the ground each autumn. 



