FOREST TREES

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1929, Page 20 (Supplement)

FOREST TREES

PURIRI AND MAIRE EXCEEDINGLY HARD WOODS. STRENGTH AND DURABILITY. (By E. Maxwell. —No. 10.) Most of tlie trees that have so far been referred to in these articles belong to what would rank as the greater forest trees and timber producers. Though in the case of pines and broadleaf, their timbers, except that of the ratas, are more or less soft woods, some of our trees produce exceedingly hard timbers, notably the puriri, maires and kowhai, and for that reason, though they have not the slightest connection botanically, it is proposed to group them. PURIRI.

The puriri (Vitex Invents) is one of our meet beautiful and most valuable trees. It belongs to the family verbenaceae, of which there are about 70 genera and nearly 800 species, which are distributed over the warmer parts of both hemispheres. The family includes some well-known plants such as the verbenas, lantanas, and mangroves, and also gome most valuable such as the teak and our own puriri. The genus Vitex has about 70 species, most of which are confined to tropical or semi-tropical regions, and are rare in temperate regions. The puriri, which is confined to New Zealand, is evidently right- on the extreme margin of the range of the genus, therefore it is not surprising that it does not extend south of Cape Egmont on the west and Poverty Bay on the east coast, and even then it is mostly restricted to coastal areas towards its southern limits. Above Kawhia and the Thames it was at one time very plentiful both coastal and inland, but it is now unfortunately becoming exceedingly scarce in most places. The puriri is an exceedingly handsome tree. It grows to the height of 00 feet and a diameter of 5 feet, or rarely a little over. Though straight growing and not over wide when young or when fairly closely confined among other trees, it usually, when not confined and when full grown, has a less straight but massive trunk, with great, wide-spreading, heavy limbs, and with its large, handsome, trifoliate, glossy and wavy dark-green leaves, presents an altogether noble and distinctive appearance. It flowers from June to October, and the flowers, which are large and pinkish in colour, are produced in great numbers and are followed by conspicuous, large, bright-red berried.

The timber of the puriri is not only one of our finest, but should rank among the best in the world. It is exceedingly hard, exceedingly tough, of great strength and extreme durability. Posts exposed to weather and moisture have been found to be absolutely sound after fifty years. It is of a beautiful dark colour and exceedingly handsome grain, and altogether is equal for some purposes to the most highly prized timbers of the world. The amazing and sad thing is that immense quantities have been° ruthlessly destroyed, and most of what has been used has been devoted to purposes such as fencing, altogether beneath what its quality warrants. The puriri thrives well in garden or plantation. The young plants transplant readily, and any part, whether young or old wood, thick or thin, will grow readily as a cutting in a moist and shady position. Of our forest trees the most rapid growers when young, however slowly they may grow later on, are the mangeae, the red beech, puriri and maire. The puriri is so easily grown, such a-fast grower whilst young, and so exceedingly handsome that no extensive garden or any ornamental plantation should be without it. It can be grown under cultivation, if given reasonable shelter from frost, far south of its_ natural limits. This applies to many other trees, such as the pohutukawa, the natural limits of which are somewhat the same as the puriri though it- may be grown in favoured situations not far from the sea a long w«v south. MAIRES. Whilst in some few cases the Maoris used the same name for different species of trees and plants that have no connection, still on the whole they showed a far .nicer discrimination in naming than might have been expected. The determining factors with the Maoris were, of course, marked superficial resemblance and characteristics and qualities. In the case of the fern trees each was given a distinctive name—Ake ake —-descriptive of the quality of the \yood was given, but was added to by distinctive Variations descriptive of the leaf, etc. But to the Ake akes was added another, not an Oicaria—-Ake ake-rau-tangi the Ake ake of the quivering leaf (Dodonea viscosa). In the case of the maircs each species of the genus Olea was named maire (meaning hard), as a root name, but the name maire was also given, with the addition of ‘‘tawhake, to the Eugenia maire, which is understandable, but why was it also given with the addition of hau—mairehau—to the insignificant, from a wood point of view, and small plant Phebaliuni nudum? The maircs proper belong to the family Oleaceae, which consists of about 20 genera and about 370 to 380 species distributed throughout. the north and south tropic and temperate zones, and they include many well-known trees and plants, among others the ash, privet and the olive, from which the valuable oil is produced, and garden plants such as the the jasmines, lilacs, etc. The New Zealand representatives of the family belong to the genus Olea, of which there are some 35 species, but the four New Zealand ones eogrtitue by themselves a separate section —Gymnelaea. None of the species is to be found further south than Nelson and Marlborough, in which districts they are somewhat rare: The black* maire or maire-rau-nui (Olea Cunninghamii) is by far the largest tree and the most important of the four species. It is almost entitled to be called a great forest tree, for it roaches a height in extreme of iO feet and an extreme diameter of over 6 feet, so in height and diameter it exceeds, but rarely, the puriri. but never has such a .-rreat spread of limbs nor such a noble appearance as the later, though it is a decidedly fine and handsome tree. Its ' leaves sire large—up to 12 inches long —narrow on young tree and much , broader on old, dark green on the upper and somewhat olive-green on the under surface. Their size and handsome appearance make the tree very conspicuous amongst the ordinary general mixture of kinds. - The timber of the black maire, though

not so highly valuable, closely follows that of the puriri in quality. It is of a deep brown colour, with blackish streaks, is straight grained and handsome, heavy, very hard, dense, and of great strength and durability, though less extremely durable than that of the puriri. It is probably the hardest of New Zealand timbers and of great value for many purposes, and yet, just because of the wealth of easily accessible and easily worked timbers that New Zealand possessed, it has been almost entirely neglected and wasted. The black maire was fairly common throughout most of the North Island, except in the northern part; more common in parts of the Wanganui district, Hunterville and Taihape. It occurs in Marlborough, but is there rare, and does not occur south of that. NARROW-LEAVED MAIRE. The naryow-leavcd maire—Rororo or Roro-oro (Olea montana) —is certainly the next in importance to the black maire because of the size and quality of the timber, but it is far less common and very local. Sometimes single trees and sometimes small groups, or several distributed along a river bank, will be met with in one place, whilst not a single specimen will be found elsewhere • over very many miles of country. Though sometimes found at- considerable elevation, its favourite situation is in valley bottoms and stream sides. It occurs here and there in most parts of the North Island, and also in Nelson and Marlborough. When young it is a somewhat graceful plant because of its general slenderness and extremely narrow leaves. When older it is handsome and decidedly conspicuous because of its slender but very dense branches and heavy masses of dark semi-drooping narrow foliage. Usually it is of the size of a lesser forest tree, having a height of from 20 to 50 feet—generally nearer the 20 —and a diameter of 1 to 2 feet; hut it has on occasions been found with

very much greater dimensions, in one instance with a clear trunk 3 feet in diameter and 40 feet 1 length, and. a total height of CO feet. In Taranaki a rather small-sized form with especially narrow leaves grows in the Tarata district, and is known as the Tarata mairb. The timber of the narrow-leaved maire is very hard and extremely durable, more so than that of the black maire, and generally little less valuable, but it is usually of lees size and far less common. WHITE MAIRE. The next in order of size is the white maire (Olea lanceolata). It grows to a height of 50 feet- and up to 3 feet in diameter. It is somewhat similar to the mairc-rau-nui, but is usually a considerably smaller tree, and its leaven are smaller —shorter, narrower —and sharper-pointed. The berries are red or orange-red, and are often in abundance on comparatively small trees. The white maire was fairly common in northern parts of the North Island and less so in other, and occurs in some valleve in the Nelson and Marlborough districts. The timber is not nearly so <rood as that of either of the other species described. Though hard, it has poor grain and dull colour and is not nearly so durable, but still is a valuable timber for many purposes. BROAD-LEAVED MAIRE. The last of the maires is the broadleaved maire (Olea apetala), a much smaller tree than any of the others, seldom reaching 20 feet in height and usually a much branched, crookedly formed, Large shrub. The timber, though hard, heavy, and of great strength and durability, is much restricted in use because of small dimensions and irregular form; It- is only i found on the East Coast and islands off the, north of Auckland. All the mairiea take very kindly to the garden or plantation, are easi*y transferred,, find grow rapidly in early j life.