We Have No Soldanellas
And Auriculas, And Alpine Cowslips, No Brilliant Gentians And Anemones.
We Have One Very Stupid White Gentian; But It Is, To Say The Least Of
It, Uninteresting To A Casual Observer.
We have violets, very like
those at home, but they are small and white, and have no scent.
We have
also a daisy, very like the English, but not nearly so pretty; we have a
great ugly sort of Michaelmas daisy too, and any amount of spaniard. I
do not say but that by hunting on the peninsula, one might find one or
two beautiful species, but simply that on the whole the flowers are few
and ugly. The only plant good to eat is Maori cabbage, and that is
swede turnip gone wild, from seed left by Captain Cook. Some say it is
indigenous, but I do not believe it. The Maoris carry the seed about
with them, and sow it wherever they camp. I should rather write, USED
to sow it where they CAMPED, for the Maoris in this island are almost a
thing of the past.
The root of the spaniard, it should be added, will support life for some
little time.
Tutu (pronounced toot) is a plant which abounds upon the plains for some
few miles near the river-beds; it is at first sight not much unlike
myrtle, but is in reality a wholly different sort of plant; it dies down
in the winter, and springs up again from its old roots.
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