300 TUTIRA 



Tutira was distinctly marked. Nowhere plentiful and nowhere wander- 

 ing from the road, though with ample opportunity of germination on 

 lands unstocked by sheep, it slowly travelled vid Opoiti, Frazertown, 

 Wairoa, Waihua, Mohaka, Waikari, and Putorino towards the station. 



In spite of winged seed, ragwort in its wanderings has seemingly 

 been but little assisted by wind. As I have said, during its migration 

 it never left the roadside, neither have seedling plants in my experience 

 sprung up thickly in the lee or in the immediate vicinity of the old seed- 

 stalks. The agent of dissemination has been the horse, patches which 

 have now and again appeared in the homestead paddocks bearing in- 

 disputable marks of passage through the equine stomach, scores of seed- 

 lings germinating directly in the droppings. Horses, however, do not 

 willingly touch the yellow flowers or mature heads ; in ordinary circum- 

 stances the plant is left severely alone. Ragwort has either been spread 

 directly by drovers' hacks starved into abnormal tastes, or, may be, the 

 shed seed has been swallowed amongst herbage cropped round about the 

 plants by horses. 



Hyssop loosestrife (Lythrum hyssopifolium) I first met many miles 

 south of Napier. It was the earliest of several species of waders which 

 have taken advantage of the roadside water-tables to reach the run. 

 The limestone hills from Tangoio to Tutira are rich in rills which never 

 cease to flow ; along them the plant has paddled its way. Advancing 

 from one to another such site it took several years to reach its goal, on 

 down grades the weed advancing perceptibly faster than on uphill 

 stretches. 



Mayweed (Anthemis cotula) was one of those kenspeckle strangers 

 which could not but be observed during its inland journey. During its 

 up-country tramp single specimens were never seen. Little companies 

 travelled together, halting to breathe and breed on dusty trampled 

 ground, on stock-camps in the making, rather than on those well estab- 

 lished and densely turfed. It never grew, for example, on the very 

 highly manured Coastal Hill camp. As in the case of many of these 

 wayfarers, considerable stretches intervened between settlement and 

 settlement, for species are either often more exacting as to environment 

 than would seem likely a priori, or else the many agents by whose 

 assistance they advance take up, retain closely, and as suddenly drop 

 the seeds. Mayweed was first seen by me near the Hastings railway 

 station, then on reclaimed land in Napier, then near Petane, then about 



