250 
LXX. CUPULIFERA3. 
[Fag us. 
Island : abundant, ascending to 3500 ft., Bidtvill, etc. “ Black Birch ” of the colonists. 
I have a small specimen from Travers, without flower or fruit, iu which the leaves are quite 
entire. 
3. F. Solan dri, IIooJc. f. Fl. N. Z. i. 230. A lofty, beautiful, evergreen 
tree, 100 ft. high; trunk 4 or 5 ft. diain. ; bark when young white, smooth, 
old black, cracked ; wood white, close, tough ; twigs densely pubescent. Leaves 
shortly petioled, small, f in. long, linear- or ovate-oblong, obtuse, quite 
entire, oblique and cuneate at the base, finely reticulated above, white and 
downy below ; stipules very deciduous. Male fl. on short 1 flowered pe- 
duncles ; perianth broad, shallow. Fruiting involucre glabrous or tomentose, 
-5- in. long; segments with unequally toothed or entire scales. — Hook. Ic. PI. 
t. 639. 
Northern Island : abundant in mountain forests, Banks and Solander. diddle Is- 
land : asceuding to alt. 3000-6000 ft., Bidwill, etc. “ White Birch.” I have what appears to 
be a form of this, with the leaves glabrous below, Colenso (Ruahine range) and Sinclair. 
4. F. cliffortioid.es, Hook. f. Fl. N. Z. i. 230. Very similar indeed 
to F. Solan dri, but a much smaller plant, with leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, 
rounded or cordate at the base. — Hook. Ic. PI. t. 673. 
Northern Island: top of the Raahine range, Colenso. Middle Island : abundant ou 
the alps of Nelson and Canterbury, alt. 5-7000 ft., Bidwill, Travers, Haast, etc.; Otago, 
Hector and Buchanan , to Dusky Bay, Menzies. “ White Birch.” At first sight this looks 
like a variety of F. So/andri, but wherever found it retains its character, of the leaves round 
or cordate at the base, and I know of no intermediate forms. 
Order LXXI. URTICB^l. 
Trees shrubs or herbs, juice often milky. Leaves and inflorescence 
various ; stipules membranous. Flowers small, inconspicuous, usually cymose 
or fascicled, unisexual. — Perianth 1-5-lobed or -partite. Stamens usually as 
many as and opposite to the segments of the perianth ; filaments often re- 
curved, elastic; anthers 2-celled. Ovary free, 1 -celled; style short or 0, 
stigma elongate or penicillate. Ovules 1 or 2. Fruit a small nut drupe or 
samara, 1 -seeded. Seed with fleshy albumen or 0 ; radicle superior. 
A very extensive and widely-diffused Order, including the Nettle, Fig, Hemp, Mulberry, 
and Breadfruit tree. Bark often very stringy, used as cordage, etc. 
Tree. Juice milky. Male flowers spiked. Ovule pedulous ... 1. Epicakpurus. 
Shrubs or herbs. Juice watery. Flowers solitary or racemed or spiked. 
Ovule erect. 
Perianth of male 4- or 5 -parted. Stamens 4 or 5. Flowers spiked or 
racemed 2. Urtica. 
Perianth cup-shaped. Stamen 1. Flowers solitary or few ... 3. Australina. 
Perianth of male 4- or 5-parted, of female tubular, 4-fid .... 4. Parietaria. 
Herbs. Flowers small, iu a fleshy discoid receptacle. Ovule erect . 5. Elatostemma. 
1. EPICARPTTRUS, Blume. 
Trees or bushes. Leaves evergreen, harsh and rigid, alternate. Spikes 
axillary. Flowers dioecious. — Male: spiked or in catkins. Perianth of 4 
spreading leaflets. Stamens 4, longer than the leaflets. Female : spiked. 
