i!$ ^
330 FLOIU OP NEW ZEALAND. [Coniferoe.
A lofty, handsome forest-tree, 80-100 feet high, sometimes 36 in girth at 6 feet from the ground. At Nelson
Mr. Bidwill says it ascends from the sea to 3500 feet elevation. Branchlets pubescent. Leaves petiolate, 1 -1 * inch
long, evergreen, not very coriaceous, oblong-ovate, deeply toothed; teeth smaller and blunt in var, f t which has
more coriaceous leaves, the base cuneate. entii-e. Male flowers in pubescent racemes at the end of the branches,
three together at the end of a common peduncle, pilose or pubescent and viscid, five-toothed. Involucres broadly
ovate; divisions broad, coriaceous, lamellate; lamellæ entire or cut. Nuts winged; wings toothed at the apex.-^
Mr. BidwiU considers the varieties of this enumerated above as the same species ; though they have a different
look, which is, I find, wholly confined to the leaves of var. ^ being more coriaceous, with smaller blunter teeth,
3. F agus Solandri, Hook. fil. ; arbor d a ta , sempervirens, ramulis pubescentibus tomentosisve, foUis
parvis breve petiolatis lineari- v. ovato-oblongis obtusis integerrimis subtus albo-tomentosis, pedunculis fl.
masc. brevibus 1-floris, perianthio cyatbiformi, involucris parvis lamellatis tomentosis glabratisve, lamellis
inæqualibus integris dentatisve, nucibus alatis integerrimis. Ho o l. Ic. P la n t, t. 639. Cliffortioides ob-
longa, Ba n k s et Sol. MS S .
H ab. Mouutains o f tb e N o rth e rn and Middle Islands, B a n k s a n d Solander, Menzies, etc. Nelson,
3 0 0 0 -6 0 0 0 feet, B idw ill. E n g lish name, “ W h ite Birch,” B idw ill.
A very beantifid lofty evergreen tree, attaining 100 feet in deep rich soU and 4 -5 in diameter, varying much
according to exposure (Bidwill). Toung trees like young English Beeches. Old hark black, cracked ; young white,
smoota, Uke Birch, which the wood also resembles, being close, tough, wHte, not durable under exposure, witb n !
conspicuous medullary rays. Branchlets very densely pubescent, leaves small, shortly petiolate. 4 - | inch long,
linear or ovate-oblong, blunt, quite entire, oblique at the base, finely reticulated above, covered with white appressed
down below. Male flowers shortly pedunculate. Perianth soUtary. broad, shallow, toothed. Involucres glabrous
or tomentose; segments lamellate; lamellæ unequally toothed or entire. Nu t smooth or downy; wings entire,
narrow.
4. Fagus Cliffortioides, Hook. fil. ; arbor v. arbuscula sempervirens, ramulis pubescentibus, foliis pro
genere minimis breve petiolatis ovatis obtnsis integerrimis subtus albido-tomentosis, pedunculis fl. masc.
unifloris, perianthio cyathiformi, involucris pubescentibus lamellatis, lamellis dentatis, nucibus alatis. Hook
Ic. P la n t, t. 673,
H ab. Mouutains of th e N o rth e rn and Middle Islan d s. Du sk y Bay, Menzie s; top of the Euahine
mountains, Colenso; mountains near Nelson, 5 0 0 0 -7 0 0 0 feet, Bidw ill.
Very simüar indeed to F. Solandri, and also called “ White Birch,” but a more alpine plant. The most alpine
tree in New Zealand, covering the tops of the Nelson Mountains (alt. 6000-7000 feet) with a dense scrub, 6 feet
high, according to Mr. Bidwill. Leaves the smallest of the genus, only A - i inch long, distinguished by their ob-
ovate shape from B. Solandri.
N a t . O r d . LXXXII. CONIFERÆ, J u s s .
Gen. I . DAMMAEA, Humph.
Flores dioici. F l. g . Amenta extra-axiUaria. Stamina plurima, imbricata, subsessilia. Antheroe
loculis 8 -1 5 cylindraceis, e basi connectivi duplici serie pendulis. F l . ? . Amenta terminalia. Squamoe
ebracteatæ; ovula solitaria, inversa. StroUlus ovatus v. obovatus; squamis dense imbricatis, axi deciduis.
Seminis te sta late inæquaUter alata.
The Kawdi. Cowri, Kaudi, Kauri. Kowri, or Cowdi Pine of New Zealand, as it is indifferently spelt or misspelt
and pronounced, is too well-known a tree to requh-e a detaüed description for its identification ; I shall therefore
ELOEA OF NEW ZEALAND. 231
only bi'iefly give its characters for the information of those who desire to understand something about its curious structure.—
Dammara australis forms a tall erect tree, with whorled branches in its young state, but it has, when old, a tall
straight trunk, 80-100 feet high and 30 in girth, with a small bushy crown. Bark thick, yielding tears of resin
ill great profusion ; enormous masses of a similar resin, many pounds in weight, are found in soil in many places
far from where these trees now grow, and are presumed to have the same origin, but I have been told that no living
trees produce such masses. Wood light, very strong, well adapted for shingles, masts, and many other purposes.
A highly-magnified delicate transverse section shows rings of growth, and no ducts, but a mass of woody
fibres so squeezed together as to look like a network of square cells ; a thin longitudinal slice shows the tubes of
wood to be marked with very curious discs. Such a structure of wood and such discs are common to all wood of
this Natural Order, and almost identifies it ; similar but not identical discs exist in Drimys .and its allies. Leaves
very coriaceous, scattered, in young plants lanceolate, 3 -3 inches long, in old, oblong or obovate, glaucous, 1 - l i
inch. Male flowers consist of lateral cones, 1 inch long and ^ diameter, covered with closely imbricating peltate
scales, which scales are modified anthers, with short filaments and a broad, dilated, coriaceous connectivum, from
which hang several cylindrical pollen-cells. Bemale flowers in terminal, large, obovate cones, with a woody axis,
around which coriaceous imbricatmg glaucous scales are whorled. Ovules naked, without any kind of ovarium or
perianth, solitaiy, oue on each scale, inverted, the foramen pointing to the base of the scale. Bruit the well-known
obovate cone, whose deciduous woody scales bear each a single much-compressed seed. Testa hard, with a broad
wing on one side and a narrow one on the other. Emhyo in the axis of a fleshy albumen, with a cylindrical
radicle and two blunt cotyledons. (Name from dammar, an Indian name for resin.)
1. Dammara australis, L am b .; foliis junioribus oppositis linearibus lanceolatisque senioribus alternis
obovatis obtusis enerviis, strobilis obovatis, squamis apice subacutis. Don, im Lamh. B in .p a r t %.p. 14. t. 6.
A . Ounn. Brodr. Agatlns, Salisb. Podocarpus? zamiæfolius, A . B ich . Flora.
H ab. O n th e east coast of th e N o rth Islan d , from Mercury Bay northwards. Ba n k s and S o l, etc.
N a t. name, " K a u r i ; ” " Wa ri K au ri” of th e fresh gum, "K a p ia ” of th a t d u g up. (Cultivated in En g lan d .)
Gen. I I . T H U JA , Tourn.
Flores monoici v. dioici, terminales. F l . ¿ . Amenta parva. Stamina plurima, axi inserta, laxe imb
ric a ta ; antherce loculi 4, connectivo dilatato excentrice peltato penduli. F l . ? . Amenta minima. Squama
paucæ, 4-fariam imbricatæ. Ovula squamulis gemina, erecta. Strobili squamæ laxe imbricatæ, demum
lignesceutes, clausi, demum patuH. Semina gemina ; te sta alata.
The Arbor-vitæ (or Cypress, as it is called at Nelson) of New Zealand belongs to a genus found in South Chili,
Europe, and the Northern Temperate zone generally. T. Doniana forms a large dioecious tree, 30 feet high, 3-5 in
diameter. Bark stringy, also scaling (like Leptospermum). Wood fine-grained, close, heavy, dark, beautifid and
durable. Branches tortuous, terminal, horizontal in old plants, vertical in young, like Cypress ; all pinnate, much
flattened, uniformly covered with imbricating, coriaceous, small, ovate, rather blunt, broadly subulate or triangular
leaves; young branches much compressed and broader, with the lateral rows of leaves longer; those on tlie
upper and lower faces very small ; in old plants nearly tetragonous. Male flowers in small terminal catkins, 4 inch
long, scarcely broader than the tips of the branches, of 10-15 loosely imbricating anthers ; filaments short ; connectivum
smooth, ovate, excentrically peltate; cells about four, pendulous from the connectivum. Female flowers also
ill terminal catkins of a very diiferent form, composed of four coriaceous scales, the two iuuer much the largest,
erect, horned at the back. Ovules two, at the base of the two large inner scales, erect. Ripe cone woody, 4 inch
long ; outer smaller scales sharp, inner longer, erect, blunt, all with a prominent curved subulate horn above the
middle. Seeds four, erect, with a broad oblong membranous wing. (Name from 6va>, to sacriflce.)
1. T h u ja Doniana, H o o k .; ramis pinnatim ramosis, ramulis foliosis compressis, amentis foemineis