674 
BOTANY. 
abundance, excepting on the interior plains, where it is 
seldom, if ever seen ; though so common, it has a very 
foreign look, and until it begins to flower, which it does when 
about eight years old, there are no branches ; afterwards every 
year adds to them, and the older it becomes, the more they 
are increased; it is eventually a very large tree of several feet 
in diameter, but of no use, as the trunk is only a mass of fibres. 
The tingahere ( cordyline stricta ) is a tree only differing from 
the ti in having a narrower leaf ; it grows in forests, and has 
a strong fibre. 
Toi ( dracena indivisa). The fibre of this tree is remark- 
ably strong and durable ; the leaf is long and broad, and 
the flower extremely fragrant. 
Hataheke (phormium tenax). This plant is well known, but 
not even now so much as it deserves, for although it has gained 
great celebrity from the dine mats made of it by the natives, 
and also for the strength of its fibre in the manufacture of 
rope, it will, I am persuaded, soon be more prized as a sub- 
stitute for rags in making paper, for which purpose it is 
admirably adapted ; the flax, when immersed in a solution of 
alum, is readily converted into a pulp, and for this purpose, 
the simple leaves being cut and dried in their raw state, would 
be all that is required, and the material might thus be obtained 
at a nominal price, since it grows spontaneously over the 
country ; the flower stalk is called Jaorari , the flowers are 
filled with honey, and in such quantities, that the natives 
collect it in calabashes ; between the leaves there is a gela- 
tinous substance, which, when dried, is insoluble in water, 
and might, perhaps, be available as a cement for china, and 
rendering cloth water proof, the natives use it instead of 
sealing wax ; the juice of the root is also taken medicinally; 
there are many varieties of this valuable plant. 
The Rengarenga , marowarakihi , ( arthropodium cirrhatum,) 
commonly called a lily, is a pretty flowering plant, the root 
formerly was eaten. 
Rengarenga iti ( arthropodium mndidum ), is a diminutive 
variety of the former. 
The Kareao. Fam. Similaceoe (ripogonum parviflorum) , a 
