Field. — On Loranthus fieldii. 289 



a dark greyish -brown colour, approaching to black. It is smooth or very 

 slightly roughened, and extends longitudinally, both upwards and down- 

 wards, along the branch on which the plant grows. It adheres so firmly to 

 the bark of the birch, that it will drag the latter away from the wood of the 

 tree rather than loose its own hold. At intervals short lateral rootlets 

 branch out and clasp the branch. Plants often grow on branches far 

 smaller than themselves. Thus one with roots from 1-1-| inches thick will 

 grow on a branch no thicker than a man's little finger, which of course 

 bends down with the weight, so that the Loranthus swings about with every 

 breath of air. From this it might be inferred that the plant was an 

 epiphyte, drawing little or none of its sustenance from the branch on which 

 it grows. It is, however, unquestionably a parasite, nourished by the sap 

 of the parent tree. When cutting a line 40 feet wide for nearly six miles 

 through the bush, for the Wanganui-Taupo road, in September and 

 October, 1882, my men felled many scores of trees on which the plant was 

 growing. These all blossomed, but died soon afterwards, as the felled trees 

 withered. 



In February last I brought down two small plants with me, cutting off 

 the branches on which they grew, without injuring the roots. I bound 

 these branches and roots in moss, so that the plants looked as fresh as ever 

 when I reached home. I planted one (branch and all) in a shady part of 

 my garden, and hung the other (moss and all) under a bench in my green- 

 house. Both, however, died without developing their fruit, proving that the 

 birch sap is necessary to them. 



The roots of the Loranthus are flattened or hollow where they touch the 

 birch branches, and when on a branch smaller than itself, the root sur- 

 rounds the branch to a greater or less extent. The stems are of the 

 same colour as the roots. The blossoms are yellow at their bases, but 

 shade gradually through orange and scarlet to crimson, and even 

 carmine, at their tips. They are from 1-1^ inches long. They open very 

 peculiarly. A very small proportion (certainly less than a tenth) open 

 from the apex of the petals downwards, in the ordinary manner of flowers. 

 In the remainder the petals become detached at their bases from the fruit 

 beneath them, and roll upwards and outwards like those of the rewarewa 

 blossoms. The upper portions of the petals, however, still adhere to each 

 other, and clasp the stamen firmly. The result is that the stamen bends 

 downwards, and supports the flower in an inverted position. Ultimately 

 the stamen breaks, and its upper end falls to the ground with the petals 

 still attached to it. In the lower forests, on the level of the Karioi plain, 

 the plant blossoms in November and December ; but near the upper margin 

 of the bush, on the slope of Euapehu, it was in full bloom at the end of 

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