Brarr.—On the Building Materials of Otago. 165 
in the former are in many cases so like the teeth of F. fusca that they 
cannot be distinguished by popular eyes. From this it will be seen that the 
names of the birches are still in an unsatisfactory state. Failing good 
native names, of which there are none that I know of, I would suggest the 
retention of the most common Otago names, which seem to be based on 
the appearance of the wood and the tree itself:—For Fagus fusca, red 
birch ; for Fagus solandri, black-heart birch : and for Fagus menziesii, silver 
birch. The red birch timber is invariably red; black-heart birch is fre- 
quently white, but it has always black streaks, and the heart is generally 
all black. Silver birch has, when young, a silvery bark like the English 
birch, and the wood, although sometimes of a reddish color, has generally a 
silvery tinge, and always a silvery grain. It might be advisable to change 
to the correct botanical name of beech, as suggested by Mr. Kirk, but the 
other is so well established throughout the colony that there would be some 
difficulty in doing so, and as some of the trees are very like the old country 
birches, the name is tolerably appropriate. 
No. 9. Silver Birch—Fagus menziesii. This species is the most common 
on the east coast. It exists with the other two in the inland forests, and, 
according to Dr. Haast, it is the only one between Wanaka and the west 
coast. 
It is a tall slender tree, frequently eighty feet long in the trunk, but 
seldom exceeding three feet diameter at the base; the average diameter at 
Catlin River, Tuapeka Mouth, and the Blue Mountains, is about two feet. 
The stem is straight and cylindrical, and free from branches, and the top is 
sound and compact, so the whole plant has a remarkably handsome appear- 
ance. Mr. Buchanan says that F. menziesii sometimes attains a diameter of 
twelve feet; but this and other remarks on the timber leads me to believe 
that he refers to F. fusca. The bark in young and in middle-aged trees 
is very thin, seldom exceeding a quarter of an inch; the colour is silver- 
grey, with numerous horizontal markings like cherry, hazel, and the English 
birch ; the outer layer also peels off as in those trees. When the silver 
birch reaches maturity, or is allowed to stand beyond that stage the bark 
gets darker and rougher, and the horizontal markings disappear : but its 
ultimate thickness seldom exceeds half an inch, and it is never cut up into 
deep close vertical furrows like the bark of red birch. The leaf is from a 
quarter to five-eighths of an inch in length, rather thick and stiff, but 
without external ribs or veins; the margin is cut into by a small double 
notch with straight edges. The tree reaches maturity in from 150 to 800 
years, and grows freely under cultivation ; young plants shoot about a foot 
per annum. The silver birch is so tenacious of life that the removal of a 
ring of bark does not kill large trees. 
