FAGUS FUSCA, Hook. f. 
THE TOOTH-LEAVED BEECH. 
OrpeErR—C UPULIFERA. 
(Plates XC. and XCI.) 
Tuts fine tree is termed “ black-birch”’ in Auckland and the greater part of 
Otago and Southland, ‘‘bull-birch”’ in the southern lake district, and ‘red- 
birch’? in Wellington, Nelson, and part of Otago. In common with the other 
species of Fagus, it is usually termed ‘‘ tawhai”’ or ‘‘ tawai’’ by the Maoris, but, 
as Mr. Colenso informs me, is specially distinguished as the ‘‘ tawhal-rau-nui,”’ 
It is the most important of all the New Zealand species, and has the widest 
distribution. 
It was originally discovered in the North Island by Banks and Solander in 
1749, when it received the MS. name of Betuloides fusca, but was not published 
until 1844, when it was figured in ‘‘Icones Plantarum” by Sir William Hooker 
under its present name. In the ‘“‘ Flora Nove-Zelandie’’ Sir Joseph Hooker 
distinguished the form with obtuse teeth as variety Colensot: in the ‘‘ Handbook 
of the New Zealand Flora”’ the variety is mentioned without any distinctive 
name. 
Fagus fusca is a noble tree, sometimes upwards of tooft. high, with a trunk 
from 2ft. to roft. or more in diameter. In the early state the bark is white, 
smooth, and even, but on old trees it is deeply furrowed longitudinally, and in 
some localities has a rich-brown tint, which is easily distinguished at a distance, 
but is scarcely distinguishable at close sight; in other localities it is black or 
blackish-brown. Detached specimens form round-headed trees with spreading 
branches; but when growing in forests the trunks are straight and lofty, with few 
short branches. The branchlets and leaf-stalks are pubescent or almost hispid, 
and the leaves when young are clothed with soft hairs on the upper surface, 
and short glands beneath, which usually disappear with the growth of the leaf: 
each leaf has a pair of narrow brown stipules at its base, which fall away before 
the leaf is fully developed. The leaves, including the petiole, are from jin, to 
I#in. in length, and from din. to #in. in width; they vary greatly in shape, but 
are always wedge-shaped at the base, and may be acute or obtuse, or the mid- 
rib may be prolonged beyond the apex, forming a small point or apiculus: their 
texture is thin but firm, and the veins are usually prominent—a character by 
which it may easily be distinguished from the other New Zealand species. The 
upper portions of the margin are cut into sharp, rather large teeth: rarely the 
teeth may be obtuse, or reduced to slight marginal indentations, 
The male flowers are arranged in fascicles, consisting of from two to four 
flowers, carried on a common flower-stalk springing from the axils of the leaves; 
the cup is membranous and hairy, funnel-shaped, with five obtuse teeth on its 
margin, and from eight to ten stamens. The female flowers are solitary; the 
involucral cup is broader than in the other species, and contains four minute 
flowers, each with a three-celled ovary, and one ovule in each cell. In fruit the 
involucral cup becomes woody, each of its four leaves carrying three or four 
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