BEILSCHMIEDIA TARAIRI, Bentham and Hook. f. 
THE TARAIRE. 
OrpER—LAU RINE. 
(Plate XLII.) 
Tue taraire was discovered during Cook’s first voyage to New Zealand by Banks 
and Solander, and was subsequently named Laurus Tarairt by A. Cunningham. 
In the ‘‘ Flora Nove-Zelandia”’ it was described as Nesodaphne Tarairi ; but that 
genus was included in Beilschmiedia by Bentham and Hooker in the third 
volume of their ‘‘ Genera Plantarum.”’ 
Beilschmiedia Tarairi is a handsome tree, restricted exclusively to the Auck- 
land District, and most plentiful in its northern portion. It has a straight erect 
trunk, 6oft. to 8o0ft. high, with but few branches. ‘The trunk is from rift. to 3ft. 
in diameter, with brown even bark. The leaves are widely different from those 
of any other New Zealand tree, of a dull brownish-green above and whitish 
beneath ; the young branchlets and leaf-stalks are clothed with rusty-coloured 
pubescence, which also appears on the upper surfaces of the young leaves. The 
leaves are broadly obovate, rounded at the tips, and from 3in. to 6in. in length, 
with prominent veins. The flowers are inconspicuous, and are produced in 
short panicles, with stout branches; stamens and pistils are found in the same 
flowers, which are destitute of petals, and are succeeded by the handsome 
purple fruits, from tin. to thin. in length, and one-seeded: the seeds are without 
endosperm. 
This tree is one of the most distinctly marked in the New Zealand flora. 
PROPERTIES AND USEs. 
The wood is remarkably straight in the grain, close, but rather brittle and 
easily split; it is frequently white ehratehont, iat usually the heart is red. 
When split it speedily assumes a uniform eae brown tint. It is not durable 
when exposed. Its specific gravity is ‘888, and its weight per cubic foot 
55°341b." 
The wood is used sparingly for cheap furniture, and as a substitute for 
mangeao in the manufacture of ships’ blocks, and the construction of light carts, 
&c., but it is wanting in toughness and elasticity for purposes of this kind. As 
it is plentiful in many places north of Auckland, it is largely used for firewood, 
but fetches a low price on account of its burning away too quickly. 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE GENUS, 
Beilschmiedia comprises about twenty species, which are distributed 
through Africa, tropical Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and tropical America. 
The genus is divided into three sections, of which Nesodaphne contains three 
SPECIES, one being Pasig to Australia, the others to New Zealand. 
* Balfour: PResutes of Remedi on New Zealand Woods at the Otago Exhibition, 1865. 
