450 
BOTANY. 
Rakapika (M — -florida. M — diffusa, M — lucida, M — hy- 
pericifolia, M — salicifolia), Mairetawaka, maire, (Engenia 
maire ). A fine large tree; the timber is close grained and 
heavy ; it is considered very valuable for machinery, and can 
be used the same as box-wood. 
Rama-rama, rohutu, (myrtus bullata) . The myrtle ; it has 
a fragrant leaf, and a very pretty white flower; it attains the 
size of a small tree, about thirty feet high, and is said to be 
common to the Chilian forests. 
Fam. Rosacece. — Pirikahu, kaikaiaruri, hutiwai, (accena 
sanguisorbce). A low creeping bur, which sticks to the gar¬ 
ments, as the name implies. It is called Hine-nui-te-po's hair. 
The tutai ivhioi is a fine scarlet flowering bur, found on 
the central plains. 
Tataramoa, (Rubrus Australis) . The New Zealand bramble 
or raspberry ; it produces an orange-colored fruit, of good 
flavor, and in great abundance, which the pigeon feeds upon. 
This plant climbs up to the tops of the highest trees, and 
frequently has a stem six inches in diameter ; it looks like an 
immense rope suspended from the tops of the trees, and lays 
coiled in large folds on the ground ; its wood is used for any 
purpose which requires flexibility. ( Rubrus Schmidelioides — 
cissioides ). The last is a remarkable bush ; the leaves are 
extremely small, placed at the ends of a long cruciform-shaped 
stalk, covered with small bright yellow spines. I have never 
noticed either flower or fruit; the bush appears at first sight 
to have no leaves at all. 
Fam. Leguminosce. — Kowai, (Edwardsia microphylla.) This 
tree attains a very great size in the interior. On the Rua- 
hine range I noticed it as large and lofty as any of the trees in 
the forest; it bears a bright yellow papilionaceous flower, 
thick and short in early spring, which gracefully hangs pendant 
from the slender branches, (— grandifiora, clianthus puniceus,) 
Kowaingutukaka, the parrot’s-bill acacia, from the resemblance 
its bright red flowers bear to it. This much admired shrub is 
only met with in the vicinity of old pas, and it is not impro¬ 
bable that it has been introduced. I received an account of 
a French vessel, which was captured many years ago in the Bay 
