Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/331

XXXVIII.] in New Zealand. It prefers an exposed situation to any other, and requires but little soil for its nourishment.

The bark is ragged in appearance, thick, reddish-grey in colour, and yields a good brown dye. The tree is very hardy, attains moderate dimensions, is crooked, misshapen, and branchy, with not more than 10 to 18 feet in length of clear stem. It has a thick foliage of dark green glossy leaves of about 1½ inch in width by 2 inches in length, and in December puts forth quite a covering of large crimson polyandrous flowers.

The Pohutukawa tree yields timber 9 to 16 inches square, and 10 to 20 feet in length. The wood is red in colour, hard, strong, heavy, and close-grained. In form and quality it is admirably well adapted for the frames of ships, or any other purpose where curved timber is required. The natives speak of it as being very durable.

Specimen logs of this compass timber were brought to England in 1843, and placed in store at Chatham Dockyard, for use experimentally in ship-building, and in 1869—i.e., twenty-six years later—two or three pieces were still there in a perfectly sound state. The specific gravity of Pohutukawa, green or fresh cut, is about 1200, but after seasoning it is only about 858.

THE - PURIRI TREE (Vitex littoralis)

is common to nearly all the forests of New Zealand, and flourishes in almost any situation, but the best trees are those grown on a rich soil, and sheltered from strong winds.

The stems of these trees vary from straight to every imaginable form of curved growth, and are seldom seen standing erect. Usually they have a short clear bole or