BOTANY. 
441 
tree lias a remarkable foliage, which makes it conspicuous in 
the forest, hut it is generally found on the outskirts fronting 
the plains; its height is seldom much above sixty feet. 
Rimu, (dacrydium cupressinum.) This is one of the greatest 
ornaments of the New Zealand forest; its beautiful light green 
foliage hangs down in graceful festoons. The fruit is very 
similar to that of the Jcahikatea , The wood is red, streaked 
with dark lines, and is much prized for furniture and house 
building. It is known as the red pine, and is a hard and heavy 
timber, but rather brittle. It produces a resin, which is also 
slightly sweet and hitter, and, if wounded, emits a black bitter 
gum; the fragrance of the wood, when burnt as fuel, is ex¬ 
tremely pleasant. It attains a great elevation, and is one of 
the highest trees of the forest. Young plants are rarely met 
with; and it is remarkable, that if planted in the open air, 
it requires shelter, as it cannot stand the cold of winter, except 
it has the canopy of a dense forest; and this remark applies 
to the palm and several other forest trees. 
In addition to these pines, there is another in the north 
near Kaitaia, called hutu, (phyllocladus hutu,) which has a fine 
red-grained timber, the most nearly resembling the Australian 
cedar; and on the sides of the Tongariro mountain, there are 
two dwarf dacrydiums, closely resembling the rimu and kahi- 
katea: they form low bushes, from six inches to two feet in 
height, which produce much finer and larger fruit than their 
loftier relatives in the forest. On the Tongariro and Tara¬ 
naki mountains, a dwarf podocarpus, closely resembling the 
totara, is also found, and when the alpine regions have been 
more fully investigated, it is not improbable other members of 
this family will be discovered. 
The Fam. of the Urticece —contains the onga-onga, (urtica 
ferox,) a shrub about twelve feet high, having a large and 
rather long pointed leaf of a dark green, thickly studded with 
formidable yellow spines, which make those who touch them 
take care not to repeat the experiment; the branches are 
similarly armed. It is a curious but ornamental shrub; its 
wood is close grained and hard. In the north there is a tree 
called the onga onga , (urtica debilis,) which lias the appearance 
