300 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
has certainly (if I understand the term aright) articulated 
branches. So also does the Mae or Matai of the New Zea- 
landers (Dacrydium Mai? A. C.) . Both of these fruits (7. e. 
their epi- and sarcocarp) ere eaten by the natives. Nothing 
can equal the elegant appearance of the fruit of Podocarpus 
ferruginea, when fully ripe. Its carmine-coloured drupes, 
besprinkled with a glaucous powder, present a most beautiful 
and tempting object to the traveller. Unfortunately, the 
flavour possesses so very much of that turpentine-like gust (or 
smack) peculiar to the Pine Tribe, as to cause these fruits to 
be invariably rejected, after a single trial, by the European 
visitant. The fleshy receptacle, which bears the naked ovule, 
in D. excelsum, is however much milder, and a favourite 
article of food with the natives. I have partaken of this 
pretty freely myself, and can assure you that it is by no 
means bad eating. So also the fleshy receptacles in Dacry- 
dium cupressinum (Rimu) and Podocarpus Totarra (the To- 
tara) are consumed by the aborigines; but being much 
smaller, they are not so highly esteemed. The receptacles, 
in all the species, are coloured from orange to crimson, and, 
in their season, assume a most splendid appearance. The 
New Zealanders have told me about a Kahikatea (Dacrydium 
excelsum) which bears its ovules on a white receptacle. I 
have not yet seen it, though I have made assiduous search, 
and therefore cannot pronounce whether it be merely a va- 
rity of D. cupressinum, or a distinct species. 
"In one or two cases I have had the good fortune to procure 
male flowers ; but never having found flowers of both sexes 
on the same plant, I conclude, for the present, that they are 
l diecious. 
* The following are among the most interesting plants of 
this colony, of which I now send specimens. 
* A new species (as I believe) of Laurinee. It forms a 
small tree, from 12 to 20 feet high, and has a very peculiar 
aspect, owing to its black bark and strikingly-coloured foliage. 
When I first saw it, I pulled and tasted a leaf, and I really 
thought I should have lost the use of my mouth and tongue; 
from the heat caused by its excessive pungency. Of another 
