METROSIDEROS ROBUSTA. 265 
M. robusta is remarkable for the splendour of its flowers as well as for its 
singular habit of growth: a fine specimen, 6oft. or 8oft. high, with almost every 
branchlet crowned with a cluster of brilliant scarlet flowers, forms a magnificent 
object, the remembrance of which seldom passes from the mind of those who 
have seen it: when this species forms the chief portion of the forest the glittering 
effect under a bright sun 1s almost insupportable. 
The bark of the rata is brown or reddish-brown, with shallow longitudinal 
and transverse furrows, so that the outer layer falls away in small flakes. The 
branchlets are usually short, somewhat angular, and clothed with a thick coat of 
very short downy hairs. The leaves are arranged in four rows, and are about 
tdin. in length including leaf-stalks, narrowed at both ends, quite entire, and 
obtuse: they are of thick texture, very uniform, and dotted with glands: a very 
firm intramarginal nerve runs round the leaf at about sin. from the margin. 
The flowers are produced in short many-flowered clusters or panicles about Idin. 
across, carried on the tips of the branches: the branches of the inflorescence and 
the pedicels are clothed with short downy hairs. The calyx and stamens are 
much shorter than those of M. florida, although very similar in structure, but the 
fruit differs widely, the capsule being twice the length of the calyx, and closely 
eirt round at about half its length by the margin of the calyx: it is three-celled, 
and contains numerous seeds, which are thickened upwards. 
 M., florida and M. robusta are so frequently confused that it seems advisable 
to state the characters by which they are separated in a convenient form :— 
M. florida. | M. robusta, 
Habit ... A climber, with stems not exceed- Erect, with a trunk from 3ft. to 
ing 61n. in diameter. r2ft. or more in diameter. 
Leaves We Hi.tosinvleng:. ; Never exceeding 2in. in length. 
"Flowers  .... Panicles with short branches and  Panicles with long branches and 
pedicels. Calyx long and nar- pedicels. Calyx short and 
row, smooth. broad, hairy. 
Fruit ... Capsule included in the woody Capsule twice the length of the 
calyx-tube. calyx-tube, which is not woody. 
This species commences to flower in the latter part of November, and the 
flowering season continues until about the middle or end of January. 
PROPERTIES AND USEs. 
The wood of the northern rata is of a red colour, varying greatly in depth 
of tint, usually straight in the grain, hard, dense, heavy, of great strength and 
durability, but totally destitute of figure. The durability of this timber is 
proved by old specimens which have been lying in the bush for uncounted years 
until they have been overgrown by mosses, ferns, and small shrubs, or even by 
larger trees, still remaining sound and good. 
Its large crooked limbs and root-stems are often used for ships’ timbers, but, 
although of great value for this purpose, it is scarcely equal to the pohutukawa. 
It has been used for tramway-sleepers with good results, and is, I believe, the 
chief timber employed for the arms of telegraph-posts. It is excellent for the 
heavy framework of railway-waggons and carriages, also for machine-beds and 
bearings, &c. For bridges, wharves, and other constructive works its strength, 
toughness, and durability render it vastly superior to a great portion of the 
imported Eucalyptus timber. Trees felled in the Manawatu Gorge were utilised 
in the construction of the Manawatu Gorge Bridge, erected in 1873-74, and 
were employed for rail-beams, cross-beams, and radial posts in the main truss. 
In April of the present year (1888) two sections were cut from the rail-beams 
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