NOTES ON SOME PLANTS OF OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND. 197 
wood to be had on the goldfields, e. g. in the gullies about Highlay, at 
the head of the Waikouaiti river (in 1862), where it forms * scrub," as 
Leptospermum, Coprosma, Gaultheria, Coriaria, Fagus, and other shrubs 
do elsewhere in Otago. 
The plant is much more conspicuous for its spines [which are very 
. rigid and sharp, about 1-1} inch long, and which project from the very 
strong woody stem or branches at more or less right angles] than for 
flowers or foliage. The latter are, as in Carmichelia, generally so few 
and inconspicuous as to appear virtually absent, and the shrub has a 
peculiar bare, dry, Australian physiognomy. In the shade and moisture 
of the Bush, however, the foliage is developed in greater proportion to 
the spines, which are much less rigid, while the whole plant becomes 
greener, handsomer, and much less formidable than when its place of 
growth is exposed. In cultivation it becomes dwarfed and very spiny, 
forming an excellent hedge-shrub. Buchanan remarks, that “if pro- 
perly trained, it would form a handsome hedge that would be stronger 
than Whitethorn.” My roadside specimens are, as in the parallel 
case of Carmichelia, very strong, hardy, woody, low shrubs, with very 
tortuous branches, and almost no foliage; the plant having a pecu- 
liar parched, leafless aspect. My Bush forms, on the other hand, are 
altogether taller, more leafy, greener, with longer, more delicate spines, 
and more symmetrical branches. The spines are frequently 14-2 inches 
long, and 4^; inch thick; varying in rigidity and stoutness ; frequently 
also of nearly uniform thickness up to the insertion of the point (or 
bristle). The latter appears as if articulated to the spine, from 
which it differs in colour and thickness ; tapering either suddenly or 
gradually; it varies in length, sharpness, and rigidity. Leaf some- 
times $ inch long, and 4 inch broad; glabrous, entire or sometimes 
irregularly and slightly notched; apex frequently retuse. Puberulence 
of calyx and flower-pedicels obscure. 
To the North Island Maori, who formerly used its spines as a bod- 
kin for tattooing, the plant is known as the “ Tumatukuru," which by 
the settlers is variously spelt or corrupted ** To-matou-kaurow ? (Bu- 
chanan), *"Tomatagora," ** Tomatuguru," * Matagora," or** Matacoura "és 
while in Otago it is also designated “ The Thorn” or ** Hawthorn," or 
“Prickly Thorn ;" and, according to the Handb. Fl. N. Z., by the New 
Zealand colonists generally, “ Wild Irishman,” —a term in Otago I heard 
applied only to Rubus australis. 
