PLAGIANTHUS LYALLIT, Hook. f 
. THE WHAU-WHI. 
Orper—MALVACEA. 
(Plate CXX XIV.) 
‘Tue whau-whi, or ‘‘lace-bark”’ as it is usually termed by settlers, is one of the 
most graceful and beautiful flowering trees in the New Zealand flora: its large 
white flowers, nearly an inch in diameter, are produced in vast profusion, and 
harmonize beautifully with the foliage, which is at once soft in character and 
bold in outline: it has an additional attraction, for it is one of the few New 
Zealand trees which are truly deciduous, and exhibits vivid autumnal tints, mostly 
of soft-yellow shades, which afford a fine contrast with the deep green of the 
mountain-beech and other trees by which it is usually surrounded. This 
deciduous character is restricted to high levels, and is only seen at altitudes of 
3,000ft. and upwards; at lower levels the plant is evergreen. 
The bark is extremely tough, and the inner portion is capable of division 
into numerous thin layers which are beautifully perforated and bear some 
resemblance to Jace: this has led the scttlers to give this tree the name of 
““lace-bark.”’ 
Plagranthus Lyalli forms a sub-alpine or alpine shrub or smail tree, some- 
times 4oft. high, with rather distant branches; the branchlets, young leaves, 
flower-stalks, and calyces are clothed with very short, soft, starry hairs, which, 
however, gradually disappear from the upper surface of the Jeaves. The leaves 
of young plants are deeply Icbed, and their margins are cut into smaller lobes or 
coarse teeth: on old plants the leaves are alternate and carried on slender leaf- 
stalks, tin. to 2in. long; the blades are from 2in. to 5in. long, and from rin. to 
zin. broad, narrowed into a long point at the apex, and with the margins cut into 
large obtuse tecth, many of which are again divided. 
The flowers are carried on slender peduncles springing from the axils of the 
leaves, and may be solitary or arranged in clusters of from three to six: the 
calyx is broadly cup-shaped, with five spreading triangular tecth: the petals are 
five, inserted on the floral receptacle, narrowed at the base, and slightly notched 
on one side. The stamens are numerous; the filaments are united below, form- 
ing a short tube which surrounds the base of the style; and the ovary is globose, 
about ten- to fourteen-celled, with the same number of styles united below, the 
upper portion free; the stigmas are flattened, and stigmatiferous on the upper 
surface only. The fruit is globose, but flattened on the upper surface, and 
composed of from ten to twelve or more flattened carpels, each containing a 
flattened seed. 
PROPERTIES AND USEs. 
The wood of Plagianthus Lyallii is white and rather soft, but is often prettily 
figured and suitable for ornamental cabinetwork, turnery, and inlaying. It makes 
excellent firewood. The inner bark is useful for tying plants, &c., and is 
occasionally used by ladies for trimming for hats, bonnets, and dresses. The 
wood is suitable for the manufacture of paper. 
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