My New Zealand Garden 91 



the poison of the berries had been known to 

 leave disastrous results on Maori children, who, 

 unless buried up to their necks, with their limbs 

 in proper position, until the effects of the poison 

 had passed off, remained distorted for life. I 

 never actually knew an instance of any child 

 being so poisoned by them, and probably this, 

 like many other Maori legends, may require a 

 little salt. Fortunately, the berries have a nasty 

 flavour and are bitter. The trees are slow 

 growers, and require careful transplantation. 



Olearia Forsteri is a very pretty evergreen with 

 peculiar soft, light-green leaves which are so wavy 

 at the edges that they almost resemble frills. It 

 makes a splendid hedge, as it does not want 

 much trimming, and the foliage sets itself very 

 prettily. It has short panicles of greenish yellow 

 flowers, crowded with insignificant-looking little 

 florets. Mine grow beautifully on a hot dry bank 

 in the full sun, where they must often be dust 

 dry at the roots. The spot is so hot that before 

 they were large enough to shade themselves they 

 must have had to put up with warm dust some- 

 times. They will grow 20 feet high, and I have 

 seen them acting in the capacity of a hedge 

 foliaged down to the ground. Some of the 

 Olearias only grow well in the extreme south. 

 O. angustifolia, which is by far the most beautiful, 

 with large bunches of mauve, daisy-like flowers, 



