418 DICOTYLEDONS AND CONIFERS 



CORNER 

 Benthamia fragifera, Lindl. Strawberry tree 



W. W. Smith informs me (1916) that this species is becoming 

 freely naturalised in Taranaki ; the fruit being carried about by birds. 



Division GAMOPETAL^ 

 Sub-division EPIGYN^: 



CAPRIFOLIACE.E 

 Sambucus nigra, Linn. Elderberry 



First recorded by Hooker in 1864. In 1882 Cheeseman speaks 

 of it as "often planted for hedges, etc., and sometimes spreads." 

 Blackbirds and thrushes had been introduced more than a dozen 

 years previously, but had not had time to make much change in the 

 existing flora. At the present time it is a serious menace in some bush 

 districts. The Town Belt of Dunedin is full of it, and it is getting 

 into many of the scenic reserves of the country, and is crowding out 

 all other undergrowth. On rocky ground in Central Otago it is a 

 useful plant. Kerner records that the seeds of this species passed 

 through the alimentary canal of a thrush which was fed on the 

 fruit germinated in half an hour. It flowers in Oct. and Nov. In 

 Europe it is visited by Eristalis tenax and Lucilia ctesar. The elder- 

 berry was included in the Second Schedule" of the Noxious Weeds Act 

 of 1900 by Special Gazette Notice of 26th May, 1904. 



Sambucus racemosus, Linn. Red-berried Elder 



This species is growing abundantly and spreading in a wooded 

 gully at the back of the schoolhouse at Romahapa, south of the Clutha 

 River. The locality is close to the site of the old Puerua Manse, 

 founded about 1848 by the Rev. Wm. Bannermen, and apparently 

 the plant is an escape from cultivation. At present the species is being 

 spread freely in the neighbourhood by blackbirds and thrushes. 



Viburnum vulgare, Linn. 



Recorded by W. W. Smith in 1903 as occurring in Ashburton 

 County. 



Leycesteria formosa, Wall. Cape Fuchsia; Spiderwort 

 First recorded by Kirk in 1877 from several districts near Wel- 

 lington, where he says, " if left undisturbed, it would increase rapidly." 

 Cheeseman in the Manual (1906) speaks of it as an occasional garden 

 escape. But it has been known in cultivation in New Zealand for 



