HEDYCARYA DENTATA, Forster. 
THE POROKAIWHIRI. 
OrDER— MONIMIACE. 
(Plate CX.) , 
Tue porokaiwhiri forms a tall shrub or small tree, sometimes from 4oft. to 5oft. 
high, with a trunk from rft. to 2ft. in diameter, clothed with dark or black bark. 
In tall specimens the branches are ascending, forming a close narrow head, but 
in small specimens they are often straggling. The leaves are of a dull green, 
and the plant can scarcely be deemed attractive except when studded with the 
lieht-red fruits, which are as large as cherries. 
Mr. Colenso informs me that it is the “ porokaiwhiri’’ of the Maoris, and | 
Jearn from the Ven. Archdeacon W. L. Williams that in the East Cape district 
itis termed ‘ poporokaiwhiri.””. It does not appear to have received any dis- 
tinctive appellation from the woodman or settler. 
The branches are erect, and when young are clothed with short hairs. The 
leaves are opposite, from 2in, to 4in. long including the leaf-stalks, and from 
jin. to Tin. broad: they are of rather thick texture, and may be acute or obtuse, 
the margins being cut into rather distant teeth or, rarely, entire. The male and 
female flowers ate destitute of petals, and are produced on different trees: they 
are arranged in panicles or in simple racemes, which are from tin. to 2in. long, 
and spring from the axils of the leaves. In the male the perianth is saucer 
shaped, the margin being cut into from five to ten triangular lobes, which enclose 
numerous erect nearly sessile anthers with hairy tips. The perianth of the 
female flowers resembles that of the male, but 1s rather smaller, and contains 
numerous ovaries, each tipped with a conical sessile stigma, and containing a 
single ovule. The fruit is fully gin. broad, slightly beaked, and contains a 
single seed: the outer envelope is red, and somewhat leathery in texture. The 
flowers are produced in October and November. 
PROPERTIES AND USES. 
The wood is white, very straight in the grain, but soft, and apparently not 
durable. Its economic value is unknown. 
DistRIBUTION OF THE GENUS. 
Hedycarya comprises three species, one found in New Caledonia and other 
islands of the Pacific, one in Australia, and one in New Zealand. 
DisrRIBUTION OF THE SPECIES. 
Hedycarya dentata 1s endemic in New Zealand, where it is widely distributed 
in lowland situations, but does not extend to the Chatham Islands or to Stewart 
Island. 
It attains its northern limit on the Three Kings Island and in the North 
Cape district, whence it extends southwards to Otago, atfaining its southern limit 
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