60 PSEUDOPANAX CRASSIFOLIUM.,. 
with distant sharp marginal teeth (Pl. XXXVIIIa.). The midrib is excessively 
stout, and the surface of the leaf is occasionally blotched. The stem is invariably 
simple in this stage of development, ranging from 6ft. to 2oft. in height before 
branching, and, with the leaves, presenting a curious conical shape and metallic — 
appearance (Pl. XXXVIIIs.). These simple linear leaves are succeeded by 
compound leaves, composed of three or five leaflets from 81in. to 12in. long, carried 
on petioles from tin. to 5in. in length: the leaflets are not so stiff as the linear 
leaves, and rarely exceed din. in breadth; the margins are sharply toothed 
(Pl. XXXVIII.). These are followed by similar leaves with longer petioles, and 
broader leaflets of thicker texture, with the margins cut into coarse distant teeth. 
Flowers are sometimes produced in this stage, but not unless the stem has given 
off one or two branches. In the commencement of the mature stage the leaves 
become simple, but otherwise exhibit no great divergence from the leaflets of the 
preceding stage; succeeding leaves become excessively thick and hard ; the teeth 
gradually diminish in size until the final stage, when they disappear, and the 
mature leaf is developed, from 4in. to 6in. in length, jointed to a short stout 
petiole, linear, quite entire, or with a few obscure serratures or coarse teeth. 
On the Chatham Islands the long detlexed leaves do not appear to be 
developed, the plant passing almost directly from the early-leaf state to the 
mature stage. The state with compound leaves appears to be restricted to the 
Auckland District and the northern part of Hawke’s Bay, while the large toothed 
simple leaves pass more gradually into the mature state in the South Island 
generally than in the North. : 
The male and female flowers are produced on different trees. In both alike 
the flowers are pedicelled ; they are arranged either in much-branched terminal 
umbels, or in racemes branched in an umbellate fashion. The male flowers 
have the calyx-limb divided into five minute teeth; petals, five, free; stamens, 
five; pistil, none. The female flower consists simply of the pistil,—calyx-teeth, 
petals, and stamens being absent: the ovary is four- or five-celled, each cell 
containing a single ovule. Fruit globose, black, becoming furrowed when dry ; 
seeds four or five. 
The flowers are produced in March and April, and the fruit ripens in 
November and December. 
PROPERTIES AND USES. 
' The timber is dense, even, compact, and of a lightish-brown, sometimes of 
a satiny lustre. It is not of extreme durability, but has been applied to various 
purposes in exposed situations with fairly good results. Small piles used by the 
settlers in the construction of the first jetty erected at Port Chalmers lasted for 
thirty years, and were untouched by the teredo: the jetty was removed in the 
year 1882 or 1883.* It is occasionally employed for fencing-posts, struts, Props; 
sleepers, and similar purposes, especially in the Otago District, where its value 
is better appreciated than in other parts of the colony. 
The leaves and wood alike exhale a peculiar and most unpleasant odour, 
and would in all probability afford a valuable insecticide. : 
It is of considerable value for ornamental planting: a group of plants with 
linear deflexed leaves affords a striking contrast to the habit of most ornamental 
trees and shrubs, which is only approached by the corresponding state of Pseudo- 
panax ferox. Young plants are easily raised from seed, and usually commence 
flowering from their fifteenth to twentieth years. 
* Blair: Building Materials of Otego, p. 1€2. 
