: CORYNOCARPUS LAVIGATA, Forster. 
THE KARAKA., 
OrprrR—ANACARDIACE/, 
(Plate LX XXVIII.) 
old glossy foliage of the karaka renders it a striking object at all times, 
en its large fruits are fully ripe the contrast beween the dark deep green 
leaves and the bright-orange colour of the fruits renders it one of the 
atiractive trees of the New Zealand flora. It is interesting, moreover, 
ing one of the few trees cultivated by the Maoris for food, and none the 
on account of its affording a deadly poison. 
Corynocarpus lavigata is an evergreen tree, from 25ft. to soft. high, with a 
nk from 12ft. to 23ft. in diameter, but larger specimens are not infrequent. 
he leaves are alternate, from 3in. to 7in. long and from 2in. to 3in. broad ; 
hey are carried on short leaf-stalks, and are very glossy. The flowers are #in. 
qn diameter, of a ereenish-white tint, and are developed in erect terminal 
panicles, from 3in. to 5in. high. The flowers are shortly stalked, and may be 
solitary or crowded: the calyx is five-lobed, the lobes slightly overlapping, and 
“the corolla consists of five narrow free whitish petals inserted at the base of the 
es; the stamens equal the petals, and are inserted between the lobes 
> disc, each lobe being tipped with a narrow, jagged, petal-lke process, 
presenting the appearance of an inner series of petals. The ovary 
h a short straight style and rounded stigma. The fruit is of a 
colour, tin. long or more, and varying in shape: it has an outer 
din general structure resembles a small plum; but the hard stony 
velops the seed of the plum is wanting, and is represented by a 
etwork, which adheres closely to the solitary seed. 
PROPERTIES AND USEs. 
is white and easily split, but is very perishable, and of little value 
wood. The leaves are greedily eaten by horses and cattle: their 
purpose has led to the tree being almost extirpated in districts 
once plentiful. The pulpy layer of the fruit was formerly eaten by 
, especially in seasons of scarcity; and the seeds, after prolonged 
steaming, formed one of their most valued articles of food, although 
de state they are highly poisonous, causing spasmodic contraction and 
of the muscles. 
Ir. Skey, the Colonial Analyst, finds the poisonous principle to reside in an 
ntial oil, which is intensely bitter, and which, under treatment, crystallizes 
at in beautifully-radiating acicular forms. He has appropriately named this 
itter principle of the karaka ‘“ karakine.’’* 
Mr. Colenso’s account of the collection and preparation of the nuts and the 
action of the poison is so interesting that I venture to transcribe it at length, 
* Trans. N.Z. Inst., iv., p. 319, 
