PLATE 73.—MERYTA SINCLAIRIT. 
(THE PUKA.) 
Famiry ARALIACEA.] [Genus MERYTA, Forst. 
Meryta Sinclairii, Seem. in Bonplandia, x (1862), 295; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 232. 
Meryta Sinclair, or puka, as it is generally called, is one of the most 
remarkable of the New Zealand trees, and is certainly one of the rarest. It 
was first observed by Mr. Colenso, who was shown by the Maoris a single tree 
growing in a Native cultivation at Paparaumu, Whangaruru Harbour, which 
they informed him had been brought from the Poor Knights Islands. It was 
surrounded by a high fence, and was strictly tapu, Mr. Colenso not being 
permitted access to it, or allowed to remove specimens. Major W. G. Mair 
was the next to visit the locality, and succeeded in obtaining specimens of the 
foliage, some of which were given to Dr. Sinclair. Later on Mr. Robert Mair 
obtained ripe fruit, which was also forwarded to Dr. Sinclair. This material, 
imperfect as it was, formed the basis of the descriptions given by Sir J. D. 
Hooker in the “ Flora Nove Zelandiz,” and in the later published “ Handbook.” 
About 1862 the tree was cut down by the Maoris, who resented the attempts 
made by Europeans to obtain specimens from it; but shortly afterwards a 
Mr. G. Henson discovered it in an indigenous condition on the Morotiri or 
Chickens Islands. In 1869 Captain F. W. Hutton and Mr. T. Kirk made a 
special visit to that locality, with the result of finding eight or nine plants. 
A few years later I visited the islands and saw thirteen old plants and a few 
seedlings. Mr. Reischek, who paid several visits to the Chickens while pursuing 
his ornithological researches, and who was familiar with the whole group, 
informed me that not more than thirty trees existed on the islands. He 
observed, however, a solitary specimen on the north side of the adjacent Hen 
Island. Mr. Sandager, who for several years was lightkeeper on the Fanal, or 
Mokohinou Islands, states that it is not found thereon; and its reported 
presence on the Poor Knights Islands, which has always rested on Maori 
authority alone, has been rendered very improbable by the fact that it was 
not observed during Dr. Cockayne’s recent visit (see Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxvili 
(1906), 353). 
For many years the Chickens locality was the only one known. In 1889, 
however, I discovered it in great abundance on the Western King, one of the 
Three Kings Group, situated about thirty-eight miles to the north-west of Cape 
Maria van Diemen. In this locality it constituted the greater portion of the 
light bush which clothes the northern slopes of the island. Among the shrubby 
plants associated with it were Myoporum letum, Melicope ternata, Leptospermum 
scoparium and L. ericoides, Paratrophis Smaithii, and Cordyline australis. The 
undergrowth was composed of Piper excelsum var. major, Hymenanthera nove- 
zelandie, Asplenium lucidum, Pteris comans, and Davallia Tasmani, a plant- 
association which cannot be matched in any other locality. During the same 
visit I observed from the deck of the steamer that it was equally plentiful 
on the top of the Eastern King; but as we failed to find any practicable way 
of ascending the cliffs which everywhere surround the island I can say nothing 
about the associated vegetation. Since then no fresh stations have been 
discovered, and we may fairly conclude that the Hen and Chickens and Three 
Kings Islands are the only localities for the species. 
