98 My New Zealand Garden 



effective in a shrubbery, or as a single specimen- 

 Its leaves are quite slippery with its soft, shining 

 down ; I have seen them pressed and painted 

 upon for book-marks. They seldom grow much 

 more than 20 or 30 feet high, and require good 

 soil. I, unfortunately, put mine near Pine-trees 

 for shelter, and they died, prematurely, 6 or 8 feet 

 high, having a poverty-stricken appearance all 

 their lives. 



Benthamia fragifera looks the picture of health 

 and beauty, and is a most valuable tree. It is 

 first laden with soft, lemon-coloured flowers, suc- 

 ceeded by a fine crop of ornamental fruit like 

 huge strawberries, which remind one of the straw- 

 berry pin-cushions we used to make for bazaars, 

 with pins to represent the seeds. Fortunate 1 ;-, 

 the majority of birds find the berries too disagree- 

 able to touch, so that they remain for a long time 

 unmolested in their beauty. 



Banksia grandis is a large, handsome shrub 

 12 feet high, although, according to Mr. Paxton, 

 it should have stopped at 3 feet. The stiff leaves 

 are so deeply serrated that the lobes meet the 

 mid-rib. The leaves are i foot long and 3 inches 

 wide, and are prettily arranged in rosette fashion 

 round the great cone-shaped flowers, composed of 

 stiff stamens, which are pale yellow. 



Paullinia imperialis grows to a fine tree, and 

 more rapidly than any other. One of mine made 



