PLATE 30.—CORIARIA RUSCIFOLIA. 
(THE TUTU, OR TUPAKIHI.) 
Famity CORIARIACE/#. | [Genus CORIARIA, Linn. 
Coriaria ruscifolia, Linn. Sp. Plant. 1037 ; Hook. }. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1, 45; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. 
Fl. 105. 
C. sarmentosa, Forst. Prodr. n. 377. 
Few New Zealand plants are more widely known than Coriaria ruscifolia, the 
tutu of the Maoris and the subject of this plate. This is principally due to its 
remarkable toxic qualities, which in the early days of the colony, and in a smaller 
degree even up to the present time, have led to great losses among the flocks 
and herds of the settlers, and have even caused no small amount of mortality 
among human beings. As in the case of the karaka, figured on the previous plate, 
the tutu was originally discovered during Cook’s first expedition, and was at once 
found to have a wide distribution. Dr. Solander correctly referred it to the genus 
Coriaria, and even pointed out its probable identity with the South American 
C. ruscifolia ; but Forster, when dealing with the plants collected during Cook’s second 
visit, chose to regard it as distinct, and published it under the name of C. sarmentosa. 
In the “ Flora Nove Zelandiz,’ however, Sir J. D. Hooker united it with the 
South American plant, basing his opinion on the study and comparison of specimens 
from the two countries. This view has been acquiesced in by the leaders of 
botanical science, although in one or two minor publications of recent date the 
separation of the two plants has again been proposed. It is possible that differences 
of importance sufficient to warrant their dissociation may exist; but, so far as I 
am aware, no one of late years has made any intimate or searching comparison, 
and until this is done it is unwise to disturb the existing nomenclature. 
As already stated, OCoriaria ruscifolia has a wide distribution within the 
Dominion. It is abundant in the Kermadec and Chatham Islands, and on the 
mainland is found in all suitable soils and situations from the North Cape to Stewart 
Island, where it attains its southern limit. It is most common at low elevations, 
but ascends to an altitude of at least 3,000 ft. As might be reasonably predicted 
of a plant with such an extensive range, it is excessively variable, not only in habit 
and size—the latter varying from 2{ft. or 3 ft. to 25 ft. or more—but also in the size 
and shape of the leaves, the number and length of the racemes, the number and 
size of the flowers, &c. Many observers have found it difficult to believe that all 
these forms are referable to a single species. Thus Dr. Lauder Lindsay, in his 
“Contributions to New Zealand Botany,” p. 34, divides C. ruscifolia into two 
species, C. arborea and C. Tutu; but he gives no diagnostic characters, and his 
views have not been adopted by subsequent botanists. It is much to be desired 
that some competent observer would thoroughly examine all the forms of the plant, 
fixing their relative position and limits, and comparing them with the allied species 
C. thymifolia and C. angustissima, both of which are very variable. 
The flowers of Coriaria are strongly proterogynous, and are evidently wind- 
fertilized, the pollen of the older flowers being conveyed to the younger ones. In 
the accompanying plate figs. 1 and 3 represent flowers in an early stage, when the 
styles, everywhere covered with stigmatic papille, protrude far beyond the 
flower, and are capable of pollination. But at this period the anthers are quite 
immature, and are almost sessile, their tips just showing above the sepals. After 
fertilization the styles rapidly wither and drop off; and in the meantime the 
filaments gradually elongate, so that the anthers, when they are ready to shed their 
pollen, hang far below the pendulous flowers, as shown in fig. 7. If a branch loaded 
