18 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



for many writers. The term liane, like the blessed word 

 Mesopotamia, seems almost to have been sufficient to bring 

 tears to the eyes of Kerner. In a rapturous passage he alludes 

 to it as the "beautiful word liane" the "sweet word liane." 



It is difficult to see why the bush climbers should have 

 aroused so much enthusiasm. Possibly, it is because they are 

 comparatively rare in Europe, and have, therefore, been 

 looked upon as symbolizing the luxuriance and strangeness of 

 the tropical forest. In England there are no climbers that 

 reach the tops of the trees except the ivy and honeysuckle. 

 Lianes reach their highest development in the Tropics, but 

 particularly in the West Indies and Brazil. In New Zealand, 

 both they and the epiphytes are better represented than 

 in any other extra-tropical country except Chili, whose forests 

 show frequent resemblances to those of New Zealand. 



The advantage of a climbing stem to the bush plant is 

 obvious. Little direct sunlight can penetrate into the cavernous 

 depths of the forest. The interior of the New Zealand 

 bush is immersed in a cathedral-like gloom. Few plants, 

 therefore, can grow upon its floor. Only when some giant of 

 the forest falls, is there room for another to develop. Such 

 seeds as germinate must quickly struggle up to the light 

 overhead or die. There is no time for them to grow into 

 trees. Many, therefore, have developed a climbing habit, 

 in order to be able to ascend rapidly to the surface of the 

 ocean of green boughs, that toss above in the wind under 

 the ' sweet flooding sunshine.' They are careless of the 

 means by which they climb. Their one cry seems to be, 

 " more light, more light ! "* 



Amongst our climbers many different methods are adopted 

 for reaching the light. The kie-kie sprawls awkwardly over 



* It is easy to be guilty of the "pathetic fallacy," and to read into their upward 

 struggles our human emotions, as Kingsley has done in a well-known passage in At Last', 

 but such an interpretation will not help us towards a real understanding of plant nature. 

 At the same time, in mere description, it is often difficult to avoid the use of words or 

 phrases which may seem to imply in the plant a human motive. Where such may 

 happen to occur in this book, they must be understood purely in the descriptive and not 

 in the teleological sense. 



