DYSOXYLUM SPECTABILE, Hook. f. 
THE KOHEKOHE. 
OrpER—MELIACEA‘. 
(Plates LXIV. and LXV.) 
Tue kohekohe was discovered in the North Island during Cook’s first voyage by 
Banks and Solander, who gave it the MS, name of Trichilia spectabilis: it was 
collected by Forster in the South Island during Cook’s second voyage. It 1s 
one of the most striking trees in the New Zealand flora: its bold foliage, 
pendulous flowers, and large walnut-like fruits are familiar to all bushmen and 
travellers in the North Island, to which it is practically restricted. 
When isolated it forms a round-headed tree, 2o0ft. to 5oft. high, with a 
trunk from rft. to 4ft. in diameter, and rather stout branches clothed with pale 
bark, which is usually smooth. It is however frequently gregarious, when the 
trunk, although longer, is of smaller diameter, and the branches are short. The 
foliage is very striking, alike from the size of the leaves and their deep-green 
hue; they are alternate, perfectly smooth, from gin. to 18in. long, and consist 
of four or, rarely, three pairs of entire leaflets with a large terminal leaflet: the 
thachis of the leaf is stout, and much thickened at the base, which is from din. 
to Jin. in diameter. The leaflets are usually oblong, but are sometimes broader 
near the apex than at the base; they vary from 3in. to 7in. in length, and from 
din. to 3in. in breadth, and are carried on leaf-stalks from 3in. to tin. in length: 
they are usually more or less ascending. 
The flowers are produced in slender, drooping, or pendulous panicles, which 
are from 6in. to 12in. long, and usually spring from naked places on the trunk or 
branches, rarely from the axils of the leaves. The flowers are carried on 
pedicels usually less than }in. in length; they are of very singular structure, and 
nearly #in. in diameter when expanded (Pl. LXYV.). The calyx forms a small 
cup, with five short broad lobes fringed with hairs (Fig. 2). The petals, five in 
number, are very narrow, obtuse, spreading or recurved; they are slightly 
connected at the base (Fig. 1). The stamens are usually ten, rarely eight in 
number, their filaments being united into a cylindrical tube (Figs. 3, 4), which 
completely surrounds the pistil, equalling it in length; the anthers are nearly 
sessile, and rise slightly above the mouth of the tube, which is toothed and 
somewhat fleshy in texture. The ovary is surrounded at its base by a second 
cup formed by the disc, which is longitudinally furrowed and toothed at the 
mouth ; it is conical in shape, and with the lower part of the style clothed with 
silky hairs ; it is three- or four-celled, each cell containing two ovules; the style 
equals or slightly exceeds the staminal tube, and is crowned by the flat stigma, 
which is surrounded by a thin concentric cup springing from its base (Figs. 5-7). 
The fruit forms a pendulous, rounded or pear-shaped capsule, the valves of 
which are at first thick and leathery, but ultimately become parchment-like, and 
split from the apex downwards ; it 1s usually three-celled (Fig. 4), each cell con- 
taining two seeds enclosed in a scarlet membranous envelope. 
