HOHERIA POPULNEA, 4. Cunningham. 
THE HOUHERE. 
Orp—Ek—MALVACE-. 
(Plates LII., LIV., LIVa., LIVe., and LV.) 
In one or other of its varied forms the houhere is found in nearly every district 
in the colony, although it does not extend to Stewart Island. It is everywhere 
admired for its handsome foliage, and the beauty of its pure-white flowers, which 
are produced in vast profusion during the early winter months. In the North of 
Auckland the typical form is commonly known as houhere; but Mr. Colenso 
informs me the varieties are termed ‘‘houi”’ and ‘‘whauwhi’’-in the South: 
Archdeacon W. L. Williams states that the type is also known as ‘ hoihere.” 
I have heard the large-leaved forms termed ‘‘ houhere’”’ by the Natives in both 
the North and South Islands; indeed, it is difficult to distinguish between 
the typical form and large-leaved states of the variety lanceolata. By settlers all 
the forms are termed ‘“ ribbon-wood,”’ or less frequently ‘ lace-bark’’—names 
which are applied to other plants: they are also termed ‘ thousand-jacket.”’ 
Hoheria populnea is an extremely variable plant, especially with regard to 
the shape and size of the leaves; the difficulties of identification arising from 
this cause are increased by the remarkable variations exhibited by two of the 
principal forms at different periods of growth, the foliage of which might almost 
be described as polymorphic, All the varieties form small trees 2oft. to 45ft. 
high or more, but the trunk rarely attains a diameter of 2ft., and in the majority 
of cases is less than 1ft.: frequently the plant is a mere shrub, and flowering 
specimens may occasionally be seen less than sft. in height. The bark is dark- 
brown or black, and is capable of division into a number of layers, which may be 
used for the same purposes as the bark of the lime-tree in Europe. 
The leaves vary in length from }in. to 5in., and from Hin. to 2in. in breadth. 
In shape they vary from broadly ovate or lanceolate to linear-oblong: the 
margins may be cut into small regular teeth, or the teeth may be irregular and 
very large, obtuse or acute, or even spinulose; the base may be broadly rounded 
or gradually narrowed, or sharply wedge-shaped, with the apex-acute, or tapering 
into a lone point, or obtuse. 
The flowers are usually produced in fascicles in the axils of the leaves, each 
fascicle consisting of from three to ten flowers; occasionally the flowers are 
solitary, especially in the small-leaved forms ; the flower-stalks and calyx may be 
clothed with a derse coat of short hairs, or may be nearly smooth, and the former 
are invariably jointed, usually below the middle. The calyx forms a wide cup, 
with five broad triangular teeth, silky or with scattered tufts of short hairs: the 
petals are five in number, oblique in the upper margin, and usually with a curious 
notch above the middle, and white hairs on the outer surface. The stamens are 
of singular structure, the filaments being united below to form a column or tube, 
which encircles the pistil for half its length or more, when it divides into five sets 
or bundles, each containing from five to eight stamens, the column and the 
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