828 Transactions. — Botany. 
any signs of decay. The miro is easy to cultivate, but is very deficient in 
beauty in the young state, the whole plant being of a rusty red colour. 
5. The rimu or red pine, Dacrydium cupressinum, is much less abundant 
on the peninsula than any of the above sorts, being chiefly found on the 
. higher ridges, and is here a far inferior tree in beauty compared to the West 
Coast variety of the same species. The well-known red wood of this species 
makes beautiful furniture, and is also used for interior house-work, for which 
it is especially adapted when well seasoned. The rimu is a beautiful object 
under cultivation, but is liable to be killed by exceptionally hard winters. 
A number of fine young trees in the Christchurch Public Gardens were 
entirely destroyed by frost during the winter of 1878, and I have also seen 
it injured in the bush. 
6. The cedar, Libocedrus doniana, is a very rare tree on the Peninsula, 
and, as far as I have been able to ascertain, is not found in any other part 
of the South Island. It is a beautiful tree, of graceful, upright habit, and 
does well under cultivation. The timber is valuable. 
7. The kawaka, Libocedrus bidwillii, which in Otago grows to a large 
size, is here little better than a shrub. Its wood, however, is hard and 
durable. 
8. The broadleaf, Griselinia littoralis, is abundant in the district, and 
produces a hard red wood of a durable nature, which has been used for 
various purposes. 
9. The manuka, Leptospermum ericoides, is another hard-wooded tree, 
which has been used for the different purposes requiring strength, which it 
possesses in an eminent degree. It is, however, fast becoming extinct. 
10. The kowhai, Sophora tetraptera var. grandiflora, belongs to the great 
family of pod-bearers, and is a large tree with splendid yellow flowers. It 
attains a height of 40 feet to 50 feet, and a diameter of 8 feet, and is much 
used for furniture-making, but is already becoming scarce. 
11. The ribbon-wood, Plagianthus betulinus, a large deciduous tree with 
a very upright poplar-like habit of growth, yields a softish white timber 
which splits well, but is not durable. 
The species of Fagus or beeches, erroneously called birches by our 
bushmen, are very rare on the peninsula, occurring only in small quantities, 
and consequently their timber has never formed an item in the export trade 
of the district. 
The above-mentioned kinds of trees comprise all that are usually cut for 
their timber, but very many others enter into the composition of the forest 
and may perhaps be found to have some useful properties at present un- 
known. Such are:—The hini-hini, Melicytus ramiflorus. The titoki, Alec- 
tryon excelsum. The ivy-tree, Panax arboreum. The very curious and beauti- 
