144 AGATHIS AUSTRALIS. 
As a rule undergrowth in a kauri forest is less dense than in the ordinary 
mixed forest: Alsewosmia macrophylla, a dwarf evergreen shrub, with fragrant 
crimson flowers, is abundant, and is commonly termed ‘ honeysuckle ;” A sfelia 
trinervia, a liliaceous plant, with narrow leaves 6ft. to 8ft. long, and a dwarf 
tree-fern, Dicksonia lanata, with stems from 2ft. to 6ft. high, often form the 
prevailing undergrowth over large areas. Mention must however be made of 
the mangemange, Lygodium articulatum, a eraceful climbing fern, with slender, 
tough, wiry, branching stems, which ascend shrubs and trees to a great height, 
binding them together by living network: the stems of this fern are so tough and 
strong that they cannot be broken, although they may be easily cut. 
The kauri is usually from 8oft. to rooft. high, with a trunk from 4ft. to raft. 
in diameter; but much larger dimensions are often attained, specimens having 
been seen 150ft. high, while trunks are known with a diameter of from 2oft. to 
24ft. In the Tutamoe State Forest a tree named ‘“ Kairaru”’ by the Maoris 
was measured by Ranger H. S. Wilson, who found it to be tooft. high to the 
first branch, with a circumference of 66ft.: another specimen in the same forest 
is named ‘‘ Nga-mahangahua,”’ and measures 66it. in circumference; at the 
height of 22ft. two branches are given off, and measure respectively 2oft. and 
20ft. in circumference. A fine tree at Tarakiakia measures t1ooft. to the first 
branch, with a circumference of 48ft: A tree at Mercury Bay is stated to 
measure Soft. to the first branch, and to be 72ft. in circumference. In some 
forests clumps of trees which would afford logs from 5oft. to 6oft. long and from 
A8in. to 601n. square are not uncommon. | 
The bark is thick and excessively resinous. The germinating kauri develops 
two seed-leaves, which are flat and narrow, bearing no resemblance to those of 
the pines of the Northern Hemisphere. The early leaves are flat, narrow, thick, 
and leathery, distant, sometimes 4in. long, with parallel veins, and of a brown 
or reddish-brown hue: the mature leaves are much shorter, broader, and thicker, 
close-set, somewhat egg-shaped, and blunt at the apex, but of a bright glossy 
ereen. The male and female flowers are produced in separate cones on the 
same tree: the male cones being carried on short peduncles springing from the 
axils of the leaves ; they are cylindrical, from rin. to r4in. long, and from jin. to 
jin. in diameter: at the base of each is a kind of cup or involucre formed of 
three narrow green leaves. The scales of the cone are in reality anthers, which 
are connected with the axis by a process which springs from the centre of the 
inner face of each; the anther-cells being pendulous, and from ten to twelve or 
more in number. The female cone is terminal about tin. long when in flower, 
and, like the male, has an involucre or cup at its base: it consists of numerous 
ereen scales, each of which carries a single ovule on its upper surface. In fruit 
the scales become woody, and closely overlapping, forming an elegant cone 
almost spherical and nearly 3in. in diameter, with a single winged seed on each 
scale. On reaching maturity the scales fall away from the woody axis, and the 
seeds are widely spread by the wind. 
The leaves are persistent for several years, but it is not easy to state the 
exact period of their duration: occasionally leaves may be seen partially 
embedded in the stem and still green, in positions which show that they must 
have been formed more than a quarter of a century, as new leaves are only 
developed at the tips of the branches. It is uncertain whether the kauri forms 
only a single cylinder of wood during each year, or more: the balance of evidence 
is in favour of the latter view. 
A cross-section of a kauri felled while in a free-growing condition usually 
exhibits from seven to thirteen concentric rings to each inch of radius: if we take 
