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REMAEKS ON PAEATROPHIS HETEROPHYLLA Bl. 

 By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 



New Zealand botanists have doubtless felt cousiderable un- 

 certainty as to the specific identity of certain plants included rightly 

 or wrongly under Kpicarpnrns )iiicrojihijlliis Raoul, the "turepo" of 

 the Maoris, and the "milk tree" of the settlers. Certainly any 

 ordinary observer examining Raoul's beautiful drawing and com- 

 paring it with the fine plate of Trophis opaca in the Banksian 

 collection, would unhesitatingly conclude that two entirely difi:'erent 

 plants were represented by the artists, and for some time past 

 I have been of the same opinion ; but the examination of a large 

 number of specimens from various localities has compelled me to 

 believe that we have only a single species which exhibits an ex- 

 ceptional range of variation, so that it is necessary to point out the 

 characteristics of the extreme forms. 



Pakatrophis HETEROPHYLLA Bl. Mus. Bot. Lugd.-Bat. ii. 81. 

 Epicarpunis microphyllus Raoul, Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3, ii. (1844), 117 ; 

 Choix de PI. de la Nouv. Zel. 14, t. 9 ; Hook. f. Handbk. N. Z. Fl. 

 251. Taxotrophis microphyUa F. Muell. Fragm. Phyt. Austr. 6, 193. 



North and South Islands : — Mongonui to Foveaux Strait ; Great 

 Barrier Island. 



In the young state the typical form has slender, flexuous, often 

 tortuous twigs with brown bark, pubescent or even setose at the tips, 

 and very brittle ; the leaves are distant, membranous, green, \-\ in. 

 long, shortly petioled, varying from obovate to obovate-orbicular, 

 cuneate at base, entire or deeply lobed below, or even pinnatifid, 

 acute, sharply toothed; stipules ovate-subulate, caducous. In this 

 state the plant forms a bush or shrub 3-8 in. high, which bears 

 but a slight resemblance to the mature condition, and rarely 

 produces flowers. 



Gradually the leaves become coriaceous, the bark changes to a 

 grey colour, sometimes almost white ; the leaves become obtuse or 

 even retuse, their margins crenate or crenate-dentate, while the 

 lobation is less prominent and often disappears ; the obovate outline 

 may be retained, or pass gradually into obovate-elliptic or elliptic- 

 ovate ; the length may vary from \ in. or less to Ih in. In this 

 state the plant may range from a shrub or bush to a small tree 

 40 ft. high or more, with a trunk not exceeding 24 in. in diameter, 

 and pale grey or whitish bark. Flowers are produced freely, the 

 male forming axillary or rarely terminal amenta, ^{-1 in. long, , the 

 flowers mixed with curious peltate scales having scarious white 

 margins. Perianth deeply 4-partite, lobes rounded, ciliate ; stamens 

 4, exserted. Female flowers in short erect 3-G-floworcd spikes ; 

 flowers distant ; perianth deeply 4-partite, the outer segments smaller 

 than the inner; stigma bifid, both arms filiform, and stigmati- 

 ferous for their entire length; ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled. Fruit as 

 large as a peppercorn, 1-seeded, red, spherical, tipped with the 

 short straight style. The slender rachis becomes pendulous as the 



