A SERIOUS LOSS.

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 146, 21 June 1916, Page 13

A SERIOUS LOSS.

THE VALUABLE KOHEKOHE,

A valuable indigenous tree which at one time covered extensive areas on the Manawatu line has, unfortunately, been almost entirely destroyed, in ignorance of its great value. The tree referred to is the New Zealand cedar, Dsyolxylum spectabile, known to the Natives as Kohekohe. This, tree belongs to the order Meliacea?, or mahogany, tribe, and is of the same genus as the rosewood. It has a beautiful, close grain and rich colour, and is very superior to the Queensland cedar. At one time solid forests of it existed at Waikanae and elsewhere, br.t they have long since been destroyed, the only use that has been made for' part of "the timber being for fencing posts. Had its true value been known it would have been used greedily by our cabinet and furniture makers. Apart from its timber value, the tree in itself is a magnificent one, with large, glossy, pinnate leaves, and bunches of creamy waxen flowers. The flower stalks are found, not on the smaller branches as in the case of most trees, but springing direct from the larger branches and stems, and even from the very roots. Undoubtedly the kohekohe was one of the most valuable of our native trees, but it has gone the way'of thousands of acres of our fine timber forest. Unlike most of our timber trees, the kohekohe is a fairly fast grower, and seeds are now being supplied to India with a view to cultivating it in that country, where it is expected to mature faster than in New Zealand.