Puate 13.—MELICYTUS RAMIFLORUS. 
(THE MAHOE.) 
Famiry VIOLARIE..} [Genus MELICYTUS, Forst. 
Melicytus ramiflorus, Forst. Char. Gen. 124, t. 62; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 46. 
Melicytus ramiflorus was one of the first New Zealand plants to become 
known to Europeans, for it was among those gathered by Sir Joseph Banks and 
Dr. Solander when Cook first landed, in October, 1769, not far from the site of the 
present town of Gisborne. It was also observed in most of the localities visited 
by Cook during his first voyage, and was drawn and described by Solander in his 
manuscript “‘ Primitive Flores Nove Zelandie.” In Cook’s second voyage it was 
again gathered by Forster, and on his return to Europe was published under the 
name it now bears. Subsequent observation has proved that it is generally 
distributed throughout the whole of the Dominion, from the Kermadec Islands to 
Stewart Island, and from sea-level to quite 3,000 ft. It is also a native of Norfolk 
Island, and of the Island of Eua, in the Tongan Group, and has lately been gathered 
by Miss L. 8S. Gibbs in Fiji (Journ. Linn. Soc. xxxix, 140). 
Melicytus ramiflorus is generally known to the colonists by its Maori name of 
mahoe. It usually forms a small round-topped tree 20 ft. to 30 ft. high, with a trunk 
1 ft. to 1} ft. in diameter, but in rich warm soils, as, for instance, in the forests sur- 
rounding the base of Mount Egmont, it often attains a much larger size. In such 
situations it is common for the trunk to be branched from the very base, the tree then 
consisting of a number of bare stems springing from a huge distorted rootstock. 
The young branches are excessively brittle ; and, with the foliage, are greedily eaten 
by cattle and horses. The wood is soft, and valueless for most purposes, but 
has been used for producing a special kind of charcoal for the manufacture of 
gunpowder. 
Puate 13. Melicytus ramiflorus, drawn from specimens collected at Mount Wellington, near 
Auckland. Figs. 1 and 2, male flowers; 3, section of flower; 4, stamen, showing the nectariferous 
cavity at the top of the connective ; 5 and 6, female flowers; 7, female flower, with the petals removed, 
showing rudimentary stamens at the base of the pistil; 8, rudimentary stamen; 9, section of ovary, 
showing the parietal placentas and ovules; 10, section of fruit; 11, seed; 12, section of seed ; 
13, embryo. (All enlarged.) 
