81 
GROUP VI. E. GUNNII. E. MUELLERI. 
CULTIVATION IN NEW ZEALAND. 
On the cultivation of this exceedingly interesting and important species in 
New Zealand the writer reported in 1916 as follows:— 
“The species has found a congenial home in the State plantations at Waiotapu, 
on the higher Canterbury Plains, as at Racecourse Hill, and especially in 
Southland, where it is represented by many vigorous and very beautiful specimens. 
A belt on two sides of the homestead enclosure on the property of Mr. P. C. C. 
McLeish, in the Drummond district, is particularly worthy of mention. The trees, 
now thirty-six years old, are in a vigorous growing condition, and stand up firm and 
erect without any indication of having suffered from prevailing winds. An 
average specimen carefully measured with the Abney level and steel tape was 
found to have a height of 100ft. and a girth of 6ft. 9in. Many of the boles are 
straight and clean, and the majority of them would cut into good boards and 
scantling if put on the sawmill. Timber from such trees cannot fail to he of 
considerable value in the near future, and no time should be lost in putting it to 
the test of competent experiment.” Journal of Agriculture, Apiil 20th, 1916. 
The photograph reproduced at the end of this Group shows these trees 
as they now appear with an additional nine years of growth upon them. 
Since 1916 several large and vigorous specimens have been noted at 
“Ngatarua” (G. W. Batley) in the Taihape district, at an altitude of 2,200ft., 
and others near Tapanui in Otago. We have assumed that the seed from which all 
these fine specimens of E. Gunnii were propagated was collected in Tasmania. 
Whether this is correct or not, the evidence on the whole shows how altitude and 
latitude are correlated in the acclimatization of plants. The mountain E. Gunnii 
flourishes at high altitudes in our North Island and at low altitudes in cool parts 
of the South Island. It may exist in a dwarf and stunted form on warm and 
frostless lowlands in the North, but will never there attain its optimum. This 
capacity to flourish where the winters are cold makes E. Gunnii a very precious 
accession to our forestry. Seed for future propagation of the species should be 
collected from our own* largest and best specimens where the winters are cold. 
68. E. MUELLERI T. B. Moore. 
Syn. E. JOHNSTONI Maiden. 
NATURAL HABITAT, DESCRIPTION, AND USES. 
To find this species in its natural habitat we must go to southern Tasmania 
and ascend the mountains to an altitude of about 2,000ft. The winters in that 
latitude and at that altitude bring severe frosts and occasional heavy falls of• 
Mount Wellington near Hobart has many specimens mingled with its general 
flora; but the optimum of the species appears to be fjrjei m^ In^the 
National Park, for example, many trees reach heights of j f 
diameters up to 3ft. 6in. The boles are remarkably free from branch^ and f rm 
long straight shafts. The dead bark is non-fibrous and falls away from P 
of the tret, or may persist for a few feet at the base of the stem The newly 
exposed living bark is reddish-brown. In the juvenile stage the leases are . 
