146 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFERS 



Agathis Moorei, Masters. 

 Moore's Kauri Pine. 



Dammara Moorei, Linclley. 



A tree 50-80 ft. high, of erect and graceful habit, with rather 

 slender branches pendulous at the tips. Young shoots greenish. 

 Winter huds short, rounded, covered by a few large, closely 

 pressed scales. Leaves opposite or sub-opposite, lance-shaped to 

 elliptical, up to 3| in. long and 1 in. wide (sometimes larger on 

 vigorous shoots), ending in a blunt point, leathery, dark glossy 

 green above, paler beneath, the surface marked with numerous 

 parallel lines. Male catkins solitary, cylindrical, erect, f in. 

 long, TO in. wide, borne in the leaf axils. Cones erect globose or 

 pear-shaped, up to 5 in. long and 4| in. wide, symmetrical in 

 outline. 



A. Moorei is found on the schistose and gneissic rocks in the 

 northern half of New Caledonia at altitudes of 1,000-2,000 ft., 

 and may be distinguished from the other species of that country 

 by its narrower leaves. Compton says that it is apparently 

 absent from serpentine soils. 



A specimen has been grown under this name for many years 

 in the Temperate House at Kew. 



Agathis ovata, Warburg. 



Dammara ovata, C. Moore. 



A tree seldom more than 30 ft. high. Bark rough, grey, 

 deeply fissured. Young shoots alternate, opposite, or in whorls 

 of 3-4, yellowish brown. Winter buds rounded, covered by 

 four large, closely-pressed scales. Leaves spreading, opposite 

 or sub-opposite, 3-4| in. long, |-1| in. wide (rarely 1| in. long 

 and J in. wide), broadly lance-shaped or oblong-elhptical, thick, 

 leathery, margins thickened and slightly recurved, apex rounded, 

 the base contracted into a flattened stalk ; dark green above, 

 paler or glaucous beneath, marked on each surface by longitudinal, 

 parallel lines. Cones elhptical, up to 4| in. long and nearly 4 in. 

 wide ; scales flat, 1| in. long, Ij-lf in. broad, brown in colour, 

 the outer margin slightly thickened. 



A native of New Caledonia where, according to Compton,^ 

 it never enters into the composition of forests but is an inhabitant 

 of the arid, exposed serpentine ridges and slopes in the south of 

 the island, usually solitary, rarely forming a small local society, 

 from sea-level to about 1,500 ft. altitude. The leaves on native 

 trees are variable, more leathery than in the two woodland 

 species (A. lanceolata and A. Moorei), glaucous below especially 

 when young, oblong-eUiptical, not acute. The female cones are 

 elliptical and smaller than those of A. lanceolata. 



^Journ. Linn. Soc. XLV, No. 304, 430 (1922). 



