The Daisy Bushes 



stiffened, and it is further distinguished by its musk- 

 like smell. 



Far beyond the Daisy Tree in beauty are several 

 species as yet little known in this country ; the Olearia 

 insignis is perhaps the chief of these. In its New Zea- 

 land home explorers tell us it grows among the driest 

 of rocks, sea-side cliffs and high mountains,*where plant 

 nourishment would seem far to seek. 



" Some adventitious flower 



On savage crag-side grown, 

 Seems nourished hour by hour 

 From its wild self alone." 



(W. Watson.} 



And it was in such circumstances that Sir D. Munro 

 discovered it about 1860. Its long broad leaves are 

 thick and leathery, and when young are further covered 

 with white down, which later disappears from the upper, 

 though never from the under, surface. Its great white 

 blooms, each held up on a stalk as thick as a pencil 9 

 are more like great white thistles than anything else in 

 an early stage ; later they are often three inches across, 

 and, with their white rays and yellow centres, make the 

 plant a remarkable sight in the flowering season. Since 

 it grows from sea-level up to an altitude of 4,000 feet 

 in the South Island, and in such dry bare positions, 

 it would seem that it should be quite hardy in this 



country. 



203 



