54 FUCHSIA EXCORTIGATA. 
than in the preceding form, and show a tendency to form two series, one shorter 
than the other. Usually they reach to within a quarter of an inch of the stigma, 
In the third or short-styled form the style is slightly shorter than in the mid- 
styled form, but the stamens have much longer filaments, which show a marked 
tendency to become arranged in four pairs, the longest pair being but slightly 
shorter than the stigma. 
In most trimorphic flowers each form is fertile on the application of pollen 
from either of the other forms, although sterile on the application of its own 
pollen, but in Fuchsia excorticata the entire work of fertilisation is effected by 
two forms only; the long-styled form rarely produces pollen capable of effecting 
fertilisation, and therefore can exercise no influence on the fertilisation of other 
flowers ; it is a female flower, and therefore must receive pollen from the mid- 
or short-styled form or from both. It is therefore remarkable that long-styled 
flowers produce fruit in greater profusion than the mid- or short-styled. In the 
absence of experiment it would be rash to assert that the short- and mid-styled 
flowers are incapable of self-fertilisation, but there can be no doubt that the 
application of the pollen of either form to the stigma of the other would result 
in the formation of the largest number of perfect seeds. 
In the mid- and short-styled forms the pollen is of a beautiful mazarin blue, 
and is bound together by delicate viscid threads running through its mass: the 
pollen-grains are easily excited to growth, and when fully ripe extrude their 
delicate tubes on the slightest application of moisture. The short-styled form 
may occasionally be self-fertilised, as detached pollen-grains falling from its 
stamens may come in contact with the sides of its stigma. Birds are the usual 
agents for the transfer of pollen from one form to another. The tui and the 
korimako frequent these plants in quest of honey, and must necessarily transfer 
the pollen from one plant to another, It is interesting to watch them poising on 
the wing, and dexterously inserting their beaks into the slender tube of the 
fuchsia. 
In another New Zealand species the flowers are trimorphic, but differ only 
in the length of the style in each form, the stamens being of the same length in 
all. In the long-styled form the aah greatly exceeds she stamens, in the mid- 
styled form it equals the stamens, and in the short-styled form is much shorter 
than the corolla-tube. Under cultivation the mid- and short-styled forms are 
certainly self-fertilised, and although as a rule the fruits are few in number or 
even solitary, yet in some cases they are produced freely. 
PROPERTIES AND Usgss. 
The fuchsia affords one of the strongest and most durable timbers in the 
colony ; but as its trunk is often curved or gnarled it is very difficult to procure 
logs exceeding 8ft. or oft. in length, so that its commercial value is greatly 
diminished. The wood is hard, dense, compact, and even ; its colour is a deep 
brown, relieved with broad streaks of a paler shade, and short narrow waved 
black markings. When much waved it is of a highly ornamental character. 
The wood is extremely difficult of combustion, and like the rewarewa 1s 
often termed ‘ bucket-of-water wood” by the bushman; even when thoroughly 
dry it can scarcely be burned in an open grate. 
It is used for house-blocks and fencing-posts, which seem absneee indestruc- 
tible either by the passive lapse of time or the active ravages of fire. House- 
blocks in Dunedin showed no traces of decay after being down upwards of twenty 
