100 NATURE STUDY NOTES 
pillows and cushions. They are stuffed into baskets 
of plaited flax for this purpose. Roots, two uses: 
(a) they are cleaned, baked and eaten, or (b) they 
are dried, beaten and ground into a kind of flour 
from which “raupo bread is made. 
BUSH CLEMATIS 
GENERAL—One of the best-known of the New 
Zealand bush flowers. Called by the Maoris, “Pua- 
wananga” (the sacred or sanctified flower). 
LEAVES—Small and few in number; thick and 
glossv. 
FLOWERS—Single white flower on each stalk. 
Petals, none. Sepals, seven; these look like petals 
and form a beautiful star-like flower. Stamens, 
several, forming a purplish-green centre. 
STEMS—Numerous; they coil themselves spirally 
round the branches of other trees in order to drag 
the plant up to the sunshine. They seize and coil 
themselves around any twig against which they are 
blown by the wind. Consequently, it is a common 
sight to see their festoons of starry, white flowers 
looped from tree to tree on the edges of the dark 
bush country. (Laing and Blackwell's “Plants of 
New Zealand.”) 
SEEDS—Its feathery wreaths of seeds are almost 
as beautiful as the flowers. They are in clusters, 
and each seed has a long, silky, silvery plume, 
which enables the wind to carry it a long distance. 
