72 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



was Hawaiki. Here Pou-ranga-hua abode for some time, and 

 was kindly treated by the inhabitants, but longed to return 

 to his home and his wife. His canoe, however, was destroyed, 

 and he had no means of reaching the mainland. At last 

 his yearnings for home could be stifled no longer, and he 

 begged a huge bird, of the name of Tawhaitari, to fly with him 

 to Aotea-roa (New Zealand). On approaching the mainland, 

 Pou reached out his hand, and stretching under the wings 

 of the great bird, pulled out some of its finest and downiest 

 plumes, which he threw into the ocean. From these plumes 

 arose a lofty tree, which still bears fruit in the midst of 

 the waters. A branch of this was broken off by the 

 wind and cast ashore, and from this branch came all the 

 kahikatea forests of New Zealand. It is said that Pou carried 

 with him upon his aerial journey two baskets of seed kumaras, 

 which were unknown in New Zealand until that time. 



The trunk of this tree is often branchless for seventy or 

 eighty feet. The young leaves are flat and bronze-coloured, 

 but those of the mature tree are green and scale-like. The 

 catkins are very small, and are borne on the tips of the 

 branchlets. The fruit is set upon a curious red berry, eaten 

 by the Maoris. This berry or drupe is not the actual fruit, 

 but is formed from the scales which bear the fruit. In their 

 earliest stages these scales are white, and each one carries 

 an ovule. As a rule, only one of these ovules comes to 

 perfection. When this has occurred, the scales unite, become 

 fleshy, and of a rich crimson colour, forming an oval receptacle 

 with the shining blue-black nut embedded at its point. 

 The undeveloped ovules are still seen as little white points 

 at the base of the receptacle. 



The timber of the kahikatea is light in colour, and the 

 green logs, having nearly the same specific gravity as water, 

 will not float until fully immersed. Some of these logs, 

 however, will not float at all, and are known to the bushmen 

 as " sinkers." 



