Re: New Zealand Flora
Tim Dutton wrote:
>
> On March 12 Moira wrote:
>
> <snip>
> >Finally we have an example of a unique growth habit in certain
> >not-necessarily closely related shrubs. These start life in a
> >divaricating form and build up a bush in which all the shoots divide and
> >divide, giving them their common name of Chickenwire Plants.
>
> There are a number of New Zealand indigenous trees that have a distinct
> juvenile form, so different from the adult form that early botanists
> thought they were quite distinct species. Perhaps all evolved this way to
> avoid the moa? I cannot think of many where the juvenile form is attractive
> enough for most people to want to use them as garden specimens though.
> Certainly I struggle to appreciate my young Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, yet
> if given the chance it will grow into a magnificent tree - by around the
> 25th century! All these trees with distinct juvenile stages seem to be slow
> growing and take many years to change to the adult form, but it is worth
> the wait if you are patient. A few however, such as the lancewood
> (Pseudopanax crassifolius or the even more unusual P. ferox), with their
> pendulous very long and very narrow leaves, are probably more interesting
> in their juvenile forms than as adult trees. Weird though.
>
Tim
Like Dave Poole I tend to find lancewoods strange rather than beautiful,
but I do rather like the adult forms which, with a rounded top on a long
stem tend to look as if someone had "toped" them.
> Moira
> --
> Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
> Wainuiomata,
> New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
