101 



tree, — the only one known to Europeans prior to the recent discovery — 

 had been cut down. 



In a recent visit, made in company with Captain Hutton to the Taranga 

 Islands, specially to search for the Puka, I had the good fortune to find a 

 few trees in various stages of inflorescence and fruit, and have drawn up the 

 following notes, illustrative of the specimens now exhibited from that locality.* 



The Puka differs (so far as is known) from other members of the genus 

 Meryta, in its strictly dioecious character, all the other species being described 

 as polygamous. It is a small tree, attaining the height of from twelve to 

 twenty-five feet ; trunk, stout or slender, irregularly and sparingly branched ; 

 bark, dark-brown, with numerous warty excrescences ; branches, very stout, 

 showing the scars of fallen leaves ; leaves, densely crowded, twenty to thirty 

 together, at the tips of the branches, with a few large deciduous scales amongst 

 the petioles of the youngest, 9" to 30" long (including the petioles), 4" to 10" 

 wide, very coriaceous, obovate-oblong, rarely oblong, usually contracted below 

 the middle, with stout lateral veins, margin slightly waved, with a few large 

 crenatures, the whole edged with a remarkable marginal nerve ; petioles, 

 stout, 4"-14' / long, with a broad attachment, irregularly striated, not jointed 

 with the blade. Pa-nicles, stout, terminad, much branched, from 8"— 16" long, 

 branches jointed. Male — Primary branches about eight, more slender than in 

 the female ; secondary branches l // -3 // long, flowers sessile, crowded in 

 tetramerous clusters, with an ovate bract at the base of each cluster, and two 

 minute bractlets below each flower ; sepals, 4-valvate, ligulate, ultimately 

 somewhat flexuose, petals ; stamens, 4 inserted beneath a corrugated 

 glandular disk, anthers lobed, oblong. Female — Stouter and shorter than in 

 the male, branches crowded, piimary branches 10-15 ; flowers solitary or 

 crowded, with a bullate, notched bract at the base of each ; ovary ovate, with 

 3-6, usually 4—5, stigmas, united below, tips recurved, staminodia invariably 

 present. Fruit roundish-oblong, black, shining, slightly angled when young, 

 becoming even as it approaches maturity ; seeds 5, curved, much compressed, 

 about three-eighths of an inch in length, black, or dark-brown, intensely hard. 



The entire plant is more or less resinous, and the bark is easily wounded, 

 producing large callosities as it heals, wood white and brittle. Not more than 

 eight plants were observed, of which six were in various stages of flower and 

 fruit. These grew in situations fully exposed to the violent south-westerly 

 gales, but owing to the remarkable marginal nerve, not a leaf was found torn 

 or injured in any way ; in this respect presenting a strong contrast to Pisonia 

 vmbellifera, which grew with it, and of which scarcely a leaf could be found 

 entire ; in fact the external leaves were often torn into shreds from the violence 

 of the wind. 



It is not unlikely that a true Botryodendrum may be found on the 

 Kermadec Islands, and it would be highly interesting to ascertain if our plant is 

 found on the Three Kings' group, of the botany of which we are entirely 

 ignorant. The Puka must, in any case, be considered one of the rare plants 

 of the world. As far as we have seen, the solitary plant found on the main 

 land was not indigenous ; and it is only known to Europeans in the locality 

 now placed on record. Its existence upon the Poor Knights' rests solely upon 

 Maori authority, and it is known not to be found in an indigenous state on 

 the Fanal Islands, or on the Kawau. The only unsearched localities in which 

 there is even a slight probability of its occurrence, are the north-west side of 

 the Little Barrier, and the Three Kings. 



* I was unable to obtain good drawings from the recent specimens, owing to their 

 having been spoiled by sea-water, from exposure in an open boat during a severe gale on 

 our return. 



