NATURE NOTES

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22767, 20 July 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES

■* The common broadleaf will have soecial interest for schools estabf*<mfr»nnial native gardens. St was discovered by Raoul, the medical officer of I/Aube, when that vessel visited Akaroa in 1840. He jftMOT-nwti it under the name Gnsermi« Ttffnrniig; the Maori name is ppintmii or sometimes kapuka. _ ■ Wenadlewf is one of the hardiest «bH toughest trees native to New

i Zealand. Long after other plants f have dted out under the. attacks of I fire and animals, we will find a ‘ hroadleaf stump sending out new _ Shoots and persisting under the most Unfavourable conditions. A large tree may be 50 feet high and five feet through. There is f rarely a long trunk,, and what there i; is, is usually gnarled and twisted land covered with rough, rugged i bark. IS' The leaves may be up to four y fcches long, with perfectly smooth ff margins, rounded at the tip, and IMfteh quite symmetrical. They are Hue green in colour, and so thick Hfnd leathery as to obscure all exit cept the largest veins. Male and female flowers are found separate trees. Individual 'flowers are minute, greenish-yellow ipl colour, and produced in'"the axils

BROADLEAF

(By L. W. McCaskill)

of the leaves. The one-seeded berry is about one quarter of an inch long, blackish purple in colour. The crooked trunks of broadleaf were very useful to' the boatbuilder in the early days for making the knees of boats. The timber is very strong, close-grained, and easily split. Because of its durability it has -been much used for houseblocks, sleepers, and fencmg posts.

Unfortunately, it is one of our best firewoods, with the result that much timber which could have been used to better purpose has gone up in smoke.