FUCHSIA EXCORTICATA, Linné f. 
THE KOHUTUHUTU. 
OrDER—ONAGRARIE/E. 
(Plates XXXVI. and XXXVIa.) 
Tus is the largest species of the genus, and was discovered by Banks and 
Solander during Cook’s first voyage, when it received from them the manuscript 
name of Agapanthus calyciflorus. It was first described under its present name 
by the younger Linné. Torster named it Shinnera excorticata, separating it from 
Fuchsia chiefly on account of the remarkable constriction near the base of the 
calyx. 
Mr. Colenso informs me that it is the kohutuhutu and the kotukutuku of the 
Maoris, the fruit being known as konini, especially in the South Island and the 
southern part of the North Island. The settlers sometimes term it kotukutuku 
or konini, but more generally fuchsia. 
It is of irregular growth, varying from a much-branched shrub to a small 
tree 45ft. high, with a short trunk often gnarled, from 1ft. to 3ft. in diameter, 
and thin bark of a bright reddish-brown hue, which on old specimens divides 
into numerous paper-like flakes or layers. 
It is characterized by ascending branches and alternate leaves from I4in. to 
4in. long, on slender petioles, lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, usually narrowed 
into long straight points; they are of soft texture, green on the upper surface 
and silvery beneath. The flowers are solitary, pendulous on slender peduncles 
springing from the axils of the leaves, and varying from 4in. to iin. in length. 
At first they are greenish, streaked or blotched with a dull deep purple, passing 
at length into a dull red. The tube of the calyx is constricted immediately 
above the ovary, after which it becomes funnel-shaped and divided into four 
acute segments, which are ultimately curved backwards. The petals are four 
in number, minute, and inserted at the throat of the calyx; they are at first 
black, which passes through various shades of colour into a bright purple. The 
stamens are eight in number, and vary greatly in length on different trees: but 
it will be necessary to refer to this further on. The ovary is four-celled, with 
numerous ovules, and matures into an egg-shaped blackish-brown or black berry. 
Fuchsia excorticata is remarkable for the different forms of flower which it 
exhibits, the difference depending chiefly upon the relative length of the stamens 
and style. Three principal forms may be distinguished, although, as in other 
trimorphic flowers, it is not easy to define them by hard-and-fast lines. In the 
first, which may conveniently be termed the long-styled form, the style is twice 
the length of the calyx-tube, but the filaments are very short, and the anthers 
scarcely project beyond the throat of the calyx; they are, moreover, abortive, or 
produce perfect pollen but rarely.* In the second or mid-styled form the style 
is less than twice the length of the calyx-tube, but the filaments are much longer 
* Enlarged drawings of each form are given on Plate XXXVIa., and numbered 1, 2, 3, respectively. 
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