236 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



Key to the Genera. 



Leafy shrubs. Leaves alternate. Pomaderris, p. 236. 



Spinous shrubs. Leaves opposite or 0. Discaria, p. 239. 



Genus Pomaderris. 



Shrubs, clothed with a hoary stellate down. Leaves alternate. Calyx-tube 

 divided into 5 lobes. Petals 5 or 0. Stamens 5. Flowers in terminal or 

 axillary corymbs or panicles. About 22 species, found only in Australia, New 

 Zealand, and New Caledonia. (Name from the Greek, signifying a covering and 

 the skin, the fruit being loosely covered by the calyx) . 



Pomaderris elliptica (The Elliptical-leaved Pomaderris) . 



A branching shrub, 2-10 ft. in height. Leaves 2-3 in. long, shining above, 

 white with down on the under-surface. Cymes fragrant, many-flowered. Calyx, 

 white. Petals crisped at the edges, greenish -white. North Island : dry hills. 

 Fl. Sept. Native name, Kumarahou, from Kumara, a tuber-like root, and hou t 

 growing deep or strongly. 



Pomaderris apetala (The Tainui). 



A small tree 6 ft. -20 ft. in height, trunk 5 in. -6 in. in diameter. Leaves, 

 flowers, and flowering stems clothed with dense soft hairs. Cymes many-flowered. 

 Petals none. Fruit a capsule. North Island only, rare and local. Fl. Oct. -Nov. 

 Maori name Tainui. 



-THE DISCOVERY OF THE TAINUI. 



This plant was discovered in New Zealand by Sir James 

 Hector, and described by him in 1879" as Pomaderris Tainui. 

 It is of special interest because of the Maori legend attached 

 to it. When Sir James was in the Mokau district in 

 December, 1878, he was informed by the Maoris, that a certain 

 tree, which had sprung from the green boughs used in the 

 flooring of the canoe " Tainui," was still growing in that 

 district. The Tainui was one of the six famous canoes of 

 the Great Heke, and in it the ancestors of the Waikatos, 

 Ngatimaniapotos, and other tribes, came to New Zealand some 

 five hundred and fifty years ago. Sir James expressed a 

 doubt as to the credibility of this statement concerning the 

 origin of the tree. The Maoris then offered to show him the 

 living specimens, which were growing on a spur between the 



*Trans. XI. p. 428. 



