PHYLLOCLADUS TRICHOMANOIDES, Don. 
THE TANEKAHA. 
ORDER—CONIFERAE. 
(Plates VI. and VII.) 
Tue tanekaha is one of the remarkable “ celery-topped pines,’’ and was dis- 
covered by Banks and Solander during Cook's first voyage. Its general aspect 
is equally striking and beautiful, so that it is one of the first trees to attract 
the attention of travellers in the forests of the Auckland District, where it is 
abundant. 
The tanekaha attains the height of from 6oft. to 7oft., with a trunk from tft. 
to 3ft. in diameter, and a smooth dark-grey or blackish bark; in the early stages 
of the plant the branches are produced in whorls. The true leaves are of two 
kinds, one resembling minute scales produced near the tips of branches; the 
second, narrow linear, #in. in length, are only found on the stems of seedlings and 
soon fall away. On older branches they are represented by phyllodia, which are 
somewhat fan-shaped and entire or lobed, or pinnate. The male flowers are 
produced in catkins on the tips of the branches; the female flowers are borne on 
the margins of the phyllodia, which are often reduced to peduncles. 
DisTRIBUTION OF THE GENUS. 
Three species are found in New Zealand, a fourth in Tasmania and New 
Caledonia, while a fifth is restricted to the lofty mountains of Borneo. 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPECIES, 
P. trichomanoides is endemic in New Zealand, and is restricted to Auckland 
and Hawke’s Bay Districts in the North Island, and to Nelson and Marlborough 
in the South Island. It is most abundant and attains its largest dimensions in 
the forests north of Waikato. 
It ranges from the sea-level to 2,500ft. 
PROPERTIES AND UsEs. 
The tanekaha is a straight-growing tree, and rarely produces large branches ; 
the logs are consequently sound, straight in the grain, and almost free from 
defects of any kind. The timber is of great strength, white, dense, and heavy, 
presenting a considerable resemblance to the best crown memel of Europe, with 
the advantage of being somewhat finer in the grain. It possesses the valuable 
quality of shrinking to an inappreciable extent when used without being fully 
seasoned. 
A red dye was formerly extracted from the bark by the Maoris. 
A difference of opinion exists as to its absolute durability ; it is not possible 
to determine the point satisfactorily at present, but there is evidence to prove 
that itis a timber of great value. Squared piles driven in the Waikato coal- 
mines showed the heart perfectly sound after being down nine years, although 
the sappy edges had decayed. Tramway sleepers were sound after being in use 
for five years. Mine-props, struts, and caps were sound after being in use for 
six years. In 1873 I was informed that watertanks constructed of this timber 
at the Bay of Islands were sound after being used for eighteen years. Recently 
I was assured that one or two houses in the same district in which tanekaha was 
3 
