PENNANTIA CORYMBOSA, Forster. 
THE KAIKOMAKO, 
OrpER—OLACINEAL. 
(Plates LXX VII. and LXXVIII.) 
I LEARN from Mr. Colenso that two names are applied by the Maoris to this 
handsome plant—kaikomako and kahikomako ; the former appears to be more 
“commonly used than the latter. It was discovered by Banks and Solander, 
who gave it the MS. name of Meristoides paniculata : it was again collected by 
Forster during Cook’s second voyage, and described by him under its present 
name. 
‘Tn its most luxuriant state it forms an evergreen tree, 4oft. in height, but 
isually itis much smaller, and often reduced to a mere shrub, with pale bark 
and pubescent branches. In the young state the branches are very slender, 
~ flexuous, and interlaced with rather distant sessile leaves, and the plant is more 
emarkable for the singularity of its appearance than its attractiveness. In 
a more advanced state the branches are rigid and stout, while the leaves vary 
0 eatly in form and dimensions; but in the mature condition the habit is more 
graceful, although somewhat stiff, and the leaves are more uniform in shape 
-and dimensions. 
The leaves are carried on short leaf-stalks, and vary considerably in shape ; 
most frequently they are broadly-cblong, with irregularly-lobed or coarsely- 
toothed margins. The male and female flowers are fragrant, and are produced 
on separate plants; they are arranged in panicles at the tips of the branchlets : 
4 1e panicles as well as the individual flowers of the male are larger than those of 
‘the female. Both the male and female flowers produce stamens, those of 
tt ie former having long slender flexuous filaments attached to the back of the 
anthers, so that the anthers appear to hang oyer the margin of the corolla; 
those of the female flowers have short erect filaments attached to the base of 
the anther, but the pollen is usually imperfect. The ovary is crowned with a 
three-lobed stigma, but consists of a single cell only, containing a single pendulous 
ovule, with a deep longitudinal groove along one face. The fruit is Heshy, ovoid 
| in shape, din. long, and of a deep-purple colour, ultimately passing into black ; 
it contains a hard nut, with three flattened sides: a curious flat, column-like 
process runs parallel with one of the faces, and passes inwards through a round 
aperture immediately beneath the apex, the seed being suspended from its 
extremity. 
The flowers of the male plant are somewhat waxy in appearance, and the 
branches of the panicle are white ; the female is less attractive. 
PROPERTIES AND UsEs. 
The wood of the kaikomako is light-coloured, straight in the grain, very 
hard, compact, and durable. It is suitable for the handles of carpenters’ tools, 
aee 
eth amental turnery, &c.: prettily-marked specimens are sometimes used by the 
cabinetmaker for ornamental work. 
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