PRIMULACE^ 441 



PRIMULACE^ 



Repeated attempts have been made to naturalise various species 

 oi Primula, especially the primrose (P. vulgaris), the cowslip (P. veris), 

 and numerous hybrid polyanthus primroses, but none of these have 

 succeeded anywhere. Before humble-bees were introduced, the plants 

 would not even seed naturally in gardens ; but since they were brought 

 in they seed freely. Yet where planted and sown in the bush or in 

 the open, they have failed utterly to become established. The reason 

 is difficult to explain. Cockayne attributes it chiefly to the rank 

 growth of grasses and other plants. 



In Europe, Primula vulgaris, P. elatior and P. veris are chiefly pol- 

 linated by long-tongued Hymenoptera (Bombus hortorum and B. lapi- 

 darius), less commonly by Apis mellijica, while Bombus terrestris bites 

 a hole in the corolla-tube and steals the nectar. These insects are 

 very common now in New Zealand. 



Lysimachia Nummularia, Linn. Creeping Jenny ; 

 Money-wort 



Recorded by Townson in 1906 as occurring in the Westport 

 district. 



Anagallis arvensis, Linn. Pimpernel ; 

 Poor Man's Weather-glass 



Probably introduced at a very early date in the settlement of New 

 Zealand; first mentioned by Dieffenbach in 1839. It was stated to 

 Drummond by a Wellington resident that he knew it since 1855. 

 Nearly every succeeding list of introduced plants from 1864 mentions 

 it. At the present time it is a most abundant weed in fields and waste 

 places throughout both islands. 



In the Agricultural Department's report for 1910 there is a report 

 of mortality among sheep in Hawke's Bay, and it was suspected to 

 be due to poisoning by this species. I do not know that the matter 

 was ever thoroughly investigated, or the suspicion refuted. 



OLEINE^ 

 Olea europaia, Linn. Olive 

 The oldest olive tree in Auckland was planted about 1848 by 

 Col. Matson at Brookside, Parnell^. 



' In 1871 Armstrong recorded the privet (Ligustrum vulgare, Linn.) as naturalised 

 in Canterbury. The plant is common in hedges, but can hardly be characterised 

 even as an escape. The succulent fruit is no doubt eaten by birds, and the seeds 

 so distributed, but I have never heard of a self-sown specimen of the plant being 

 found away from a hedge. 



