196 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Nageia (Podocarpus) spicata, Brown. 



Black Pine or Matai of New Zealand. Fruit spicate. Tree 

 80 feet high ; wood pale or reddish, soft, close, and durable ; 

 used advantageously for piles, machinery, stringers, braces, 

 millwrights' work, house blocks, railway sleepers, also weather- 

 boards, flooring-boards (Kirk) . 



Nageia (Podocarpus) Thunbergi, Hooker. 



South Africa. Superior in the quality of its wood to N. 

 pruinosa, E. Meyer, and even N. elongata; it is bright yellow, 

 fine-grained, and very handsome when polished (Dr. Pappe). 



Nageia (Podocarpus) Totara, Don.* 



New Zealand. A fine tree, 120 feet high, with a stem of 

 20 feet in circumference; it is called Mahogany Pine by 

 the colonists. The reddish close-grained and durable wood is 

 valuable both for building and for furniture, and is also exten- 

 sively used for telegraph posts; it is considered the most 

 valuable timber of New Zealand-. Used for piles of bridges, 

 wharves and jetties, and in other naval architecture ; the heart- 

 wood for a long time resists decay, and the attacks of the 

 Teredo, according to Professor Kirk. It ranks below Kauri 

 in strength, but equals it in durability. It is one of the most 

 lasting woods for railway sleepers. When used for piles, the 

 bark should not be removed from the timber. Many other tall 

 timber trees of the genus Podocarpus or Nageia occur in vari- 

 ous parts of Asia, Africa, and America, doubtless all desirable ; 

 but the quality of their timber is not well known, though 

 likely in many cases excellent. Nageia is by far the oldest 

 published name of the genus. 



Nardostachys Jatamansi, Candolle. 



Mountains of Bengal and Nepal. The Spikenard. A peren- 

 nial herb, famous in ancient times as a medicinal plant. 

 The root contains an ethereal oil and bitter principle. This 

 drug is often also obtained from N. grandiflora, Cand. 



Nelumbo lutea, Caspary.* (NelvmUum luteum, Willdenow.) 



In North America, north to 44 ; also in Jamaica. This mag- 

 nificent perennial water-plant carries with it the type of 

 Nelumbo nucifera, but seems more hardy, and thus better 

 adapted for extra-tropical latitudes, the Pythagorean Bean 

 not descending in Australia naturally beyond 23, although 

 this species also may perhaps live in the warmer parts of the 

 temperate zone. The tuberous roots of both species resemble 



