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Rh

An evergeen tree, attaining in New Zealand 100 feet in height and 25 feet in girth. Bark of young trees white and smooth, becoming on old trees furrowed longitudinally and brown in colour. Young branchlets minutely pubescent. Leaves (Plate 202, Fig. 8) persistent for two years, distichous on the branchlets, ¾ to 1½ inch long, thin in texture, glabrous, broadly ovate, cuneate at the base, rounded at the apex, dark-green and shining above, pale-green beneath; sharply serrate with a few large teeth in the upper two-thirds of the leaf; lateral nerves four to five pairs; petioles about ⅛ inch, pubescent. Male flowers solitary or in threes; calyx five- toothed; stamens eight to sixteen. Fruit: involucre nearly ½ inch long, viscid- pubescent, four-lobed, each lobe with three to five transverse entire or fringed scales; nuts three, as in N. Menziesii.

This species is a native of New Zealand, where it is known as the “black birch” or "red birch.” It grows in forests at elevations between sea-level and 3500 feet, being a splendid tree. Its distribution is North Island from Monguni and Kartaia southwards, but local to the north of the East Cape; South Island from Nelson to Foveaux Straits, but rare in Canterbury and Eastern Otago. The wood is dark-red, strong and compact, and more durable than that of the other species ; it is frequently used for wharves, bridges, and fencing posts.

A small tree of this species about 10 feet high, and said to be thirty years old, is growing in the Coombe Wood Nursery. At Castlewellan, Co. Down, there is a tree about 18 feet high, which was imported from New Zealand some years ago as a small plant in a Wardian case. It is growing rapidly, making an annual growth of a foot. The old leaves remain on the branches till the new ones appear, changing before they fall to a brilliant red, which contrasts well with the light green of the young growths.

An evergreen tree, attaining in Australia 150 feet in height. Young branchlets pubescent ; buds ovoid, acute, brown. Leaves (Plate 202, Fig. 7) persistent for two or three years, distichous on the branchlets, coriaceous, glabrous; shining, dark-

1 This is figured as Fagus cliffortioides in Earl Annesley’s Beautiful and Rare Trees, 71 (1903).