Forest Plants. 101 
Young trees 2.4—3 m high possess a slender, erect, dark-coloured main- 
stem from which pass off rather short and distant very slender branches from 
which hang the pale-green thin leaves, whitish on their under-surfaces and not 
crowded together. Such young plants are extremely graceful and when they 
occur in abundance lend a special charm to the forest. 
2. B. tarairi (A. Cunn.) Benth. and Hook f. (Taraire). 
The taraire is a handsome evergreen tree 15—24 m high with a straight 
erect, often slender trunk 45—90 cm in diam. covered with brown or reddish- 
brown bark with many longitudinal cracks but which, at a distance, frequently 
appears white through the abundance of a crustaceous lichen. The branches 
are few and short; the lower pass off at a right angle and frequently droop 
or arch somewhat; the upper are fixed at a narrower angle. Finally, short 
branches pass off at an acute angle; these are quite stout, furnished closely 
with leaves, and so form a small dense crown. The leaves are obovate to 
broadiy oblong, about ı2.5 cm long by 7.5 cm broad, entire, dark-green, 
slightly glossy, coriaceous, stiff ‚but elastic, the distant pale-yellowish raised 
veins giving special firmness; the under-surface is bluish-white owing to a 
covering of wax. 
The flowers are hermaphrodite, extremely small, white. and arranged in 
axillary panicles with stout branches and shorter than the leaves. The fruits 
are rather larger than those of D. Zawa. 
B. tarairi is confined to the Northern botanical province, but is rare or 
local to the south of the Auckland Isthmus. 
The two species of Beilschmiedia are endemic and with the Australian 
B. obtusifolia constitute the subgenus Nesodaphne. 
J- Various small trees found in many forests of the main islands. | 
The following often form part of the second tier of tree-tops beneath we 
the main roof. At times, they may form much of the vegetation, or bea 
feature of the landscape when the tall trees have been removed by nn 
I Carpodetus serratus Forst. (Saxifragac.) Putaputanheta, New u 
Zealand hawthorn. 5 
C. serratus with a maximum height of about 9 m, a trink: 15—22 cm 1 in! 
diam., has a close head of flattened spreading branches. The leaves are ovate- 
oblong, serrate, 2—4 cm long, rather thin, but they are specially noticeable - 
through their Sellewich variegation caused by the dark-green colı above 
the veins of the Apper surface and the ee en between ie 
I) The juvenile form bis a denser habae. wirh the stems velger and BEN 
are half as long than those of es adult, or less; the staining above the veins. d 
\ = the i Interspaces y is stained ] u pi Pe 
023 nd the leaf in general more hai. This shrubby juven 
