FUSANUS CUNNINGHAMITI, Bentham and Hook. t. 
THE MAIRE. 
ORDER—SANTALACE 2. 
(Plates LXXV. and LXXVI.) 
Ir has already been stated that the Native name “‘ maire’’ is applied to several 
trees, some of which differ considerably in general appearance: in the present 
case, however, our plant bears a strong general resemblance to the small-leaved 
olives, and is not easily distinguished at first sight, although widely separated 
by the structure of the flowers and fruit. p 
Although it can scarcely have escaped the notice of Banks and Solander, it 
does not appear that specimens have been preserved in their collections.. It was 
first recorded by Allan Cunningham, who formed a new genus for its reception, 
and described the chief forms as separate species under the name of Mida 
salicifolia, Mida eucalyptoides, and Mida myrtifolha.* In 1843 Sir William Hooker 
referred it to Santalum, and figured the first of these varieties in ‘‘ Icones Plan- 
tarum’’ as Santalum Mida, var. a; the second as var, 6. “Ten years later it was 
described under the name of Santalum Cunninghamu by Sir Joseph Hooker, who 
ecific name by the following remarks, the force of 
y the experience of New Zealand botanists: ‘‘ My 
own experience in botanical nomenciature has convinced me that the practice of 
adopting local names for species of plants is highly inadvisable; it has intro- 
duced confusion into the botany of every country, and serves no good purpose.”’ 
It is to be regretted that by the law of priority it will be necessary to revert to 
the old specific name, although it is not proposed to adopt this course on the 
present occasion. 
In ‘‘ Genera Plantarum,’ Vol. III., Bentham and Hook. f. have removed 
this species from Santalum, and placed it in Fusanus, of which it constitutes a 
distinct section under Cunningham’s old name ‘‘ Mida.”’ It 1s frequently termed 
‘“ New Zealand sandal-wood”’ by settlers. 
Fusanus Cunninghamu usually forms a small tree rarely exceeding 25ft. in 
height, with pale-grey bark, slender, somewhat angular branches, and glossy 
foliage, varying greatly in outline and dimensions. ‘The leaves are alternate or 
rarely opposite in young plants, shortly petioled, and vary from tin. to 4in. in 
length, and from }in. to r4in. in width: in outline they may be narrow-linear, 
eradually narrowed into a long point, or broadly egg-shaped with a short point, 
or ovate, but are always quite smooth, entire, minutely dotted beneath, and 
carried on short leaf-stalks. Leaves of all intermediate outlines may be found 
between those named, so that it is impossible to distinguish the different forms 
even as‘varieties, especially as leaves of different outline may frequently be 
found on the same branchlet. 
The flowers are of a lurid green or purple, and are freely developed in the 
axils of the leaves. Sometimes two, three, or more pedicellate flowers form a 
** Annals of Natural History,” Vol. I., pp. 376, 377. 
30 
