280 AUSTRALASIAN 



In the bush are also generally found the native fuchsia, wild 

 clematis, rata creeper (white and red), karaka (laurel, corino- 

 carpus), koromiko (veronica), and many other flowering shrubs 

 or creepers ; in the open, both on hillsides and swampy places, 

 cabbage trees (Cordyline Australis and Draccena Australis), and 

 the New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), and in the fern-lands 

 generally, manuka (tea-tree, Leptosperrnum scopariwn), rawiri, 

 (Leptospermum ericoides), and tutu (Coriaria sarmentosa). 



Most of the forest trees, especially the first five in the fore- 

 going list, afford, in seasons when they blossom freely, not only 

 excellent quality, but also a great quantity of honey. They do 

 not, however, blossom equally well every year ; some of them 

 even do not blossom at all in some seasons. The same may be 

 said of the flax, which, however, in favourable seasons, exudes 

 such quantities of nectar, or honey-dew, that it may be collected 

 by hand. Dieffenbach observed, when examining the Taranaki 

 district in 1840, large patches of land covered with Phormium 

 tenax of great size. " The leaves in many instances were twelve, 

 and the flower-stalks twenty, feet long ; their flowers contain a 

 kind of sweet liquid in considerable quantities, the extraction 

 of which forms a favourite occupation among the New Zealand 

 children." The honey obtained from it is generally so thick as 

 to be difficult to extract. The periods of blossoming of all 

 these trees and plants varies considerably with their geographi- 

 cal situation ; and it is very desirable that the particulars of 

 their habits in that respect, as well as the character of the 

 honey afforded by each, should be carefully noted by bee- 

 keepers in all the different parts of the country. Mr. J. Blair, 

 of the Great Barrier Island, about fifty miles north of Auckland, 

 reports as follows with regard to the native flora of his dis- 

 trict : — 



"Here the cabbage tree blooms in October — November; flax, Novem- 

 ber — December. Tea-tree, it is possible to get a specimen of bloom all 

 the year, but for practical purposes it blooms from the last week in 

 March to the end of December, and the bees work on it all the time. 

 My bees have been working on it now a fortnight, but it only gives 

 honey in quantity from the beginning of October to the end of Decem- 

 ber, and during that time they gather honey only. From March to 

 October they gather both honey and pollen. From October to Decem- 

 ber any one can both taste and see the honey in the blossom. Rewa 

 rewa blossoms from September 20th to December 20th : any one can 

 lick the thick honey off it with the tongue. When the bees get pro- 

 perly started on these, they don't take notice of any honey lying about. 



