# Manual of the New Zealand Flora/Cupuliferæ

Order LXXVII. CUPULIFERÆ.
Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, penninerved, entire or toothed or lobed, never compound; stipules present, free, often caducous. Flowers usually monoecious. Males in erect or pendulous spikes (catkins) sometimes shortened into globular or capitate clusters. Perianth of 1–5 free or connate segments or wanting. Stamens 2–20, inserted on a torus or at the base of the perianth-segments; filaments slender; anthers 2-celled. Female flowers less numerous than the males, solitary or in few-flowered catkins or clusters, often surrounded by scales or bracts which are frequently united into an entire or lobed involucre. Perianth adnate to the ovary or wanting, limb minute, annular or toothed. Ovary inferior, 2–6-celled; styles as many as the cells, stigmatic in the upper part; ovules 1 or 2 in each cell, pendulous, anatropous. Fruit a nut, enclosed or seated within the persistent and hardened enlarged involucre. Seed usually solitary in each nut; albumen wanting; embryo with large and fleshy cotyledons, radicle superior.
An important order, including 10 genera and about 400 species, for the most part confined to the Northern Hemisphere, and most abundant in the temperate zone, extending southwards to the mountains of the Malay Archipelago and Central America and Colombia, a very few species of one genus alone found in the south temperate zone. The order includes the oak, chestnut, beech, hazel, hornbeam, birch, &c., and produces some of the most durable and valuable woods known. The single New Zealand genus occurs in the temperate regions of both hemispheres.
1. FAGUS, Linn.
Trees or rarely shrubs. Leaves evergreen or deciduous; stipules caducous. Flowers monœcious. Males: In pendulous few- or many-flowered heads or solitary; bracts scale-like, caducous. Perianth campanulate, 4–6-lobed; lobes imbricate. Stamens 8–16 or more; filaments filiform, exserted; anthers oblong, obtuse or sagittate at the base, loculicidally dehiscent. Females: Minute, 2–4 sessile within a 4-lobed involucre composed of numerous scales grown together at the base. Perianth-tube trigonous, adnate to the ovary; limb shortly 3–5-lobed. Ovary inferior, 3-celled; styles 3, linear; ovules 2 in each cell, pendulous from the top. Fruiting involucres enlarged and hardened, more or less clothed externally with scales or prickles, ultimately splitting almost to the base into 4 (rarely 3) valves. Nuts enclosed within the involucre, trigonous, 3-celled; cells 1-seeded. Seed pendulous; cotyledons plaited.
A genus of about 18 species, found in the temperate and colder regions of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. It is now often divided into two separate genera: one, Fagus proper, including the beeches of the Northern Hemisphere, which have comparatively large leaves, many-flowered male heads or catkins, and large fruiting involucres; the other, Nothofagus, comprising the species from the Southern Hemisphere, in all of which the leaves are small, the male heads 1–3-flowered, and the fruiting involucres very small indeed.
A. Fruiting involucres clothed with recurved linear processes. :
| Leaves ⅓–½ in., ovate-rhomboid, coriaceous, doubly crenate | 1. F. Menziesii. |
| B. Fruiting involucres with flat transverse lamellæ. ||
| Leaves ¾–1½ in,, broadly ovate, obtuse, thin, veined, pubescent, deeply serrate | 2. F. fusca. |
| Leaves ¾–1 in., oblong, apiculate, entire or obscurely toothed towards the tip | 3. F. apiculata. |
| Leaves ⅔–¾ in., ovate, acute, entire, glabrous above, fulvous beneath. Involucre 4-valved | 4. F. Blairii. |
| Leaves ¼–¾ in., oblong, obtuse, entire, glabrous above, white beneath. Involucre 3-valved | 5. F. Solandri. |
| Leaves ⅙–⅔ in., ovate, acute, rounded or cordate at the base, glabrous above, white beneath. Involucre 3-valved | 6. F. cliffortioides. |
1. F. Menziesii, Hook. f. in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 652.—A tall forest-tree 60–80 ft. or even 100 ft. high; trunk 2–5 ft. diam. or more; bark white and silvery, especially in young trees; branchlets clothed with fulvous pubescence. Leaves evergreen, shortly petiolate, ⅓–½ in. long, broadly ovate-deltoid or rhomboid or almost orbicular, obtuse, shortly unequally cuneate at the base, thick and coriaceous, rigid, glabrous except the petiole, irregularly doubly crenate; margins thickened; stipules membranous, reddish, pubescent. Male flowers solitary, on short curved peduncles in the lower axils of the branchlets. Perianth 4–6-lobed. Stamens 6–12. Female involucres in the upper axils, 2–3-flowered. Fruiting involucres ¼–⅓ in. long, faintly pubescent; lobes with 5–7 trans​verse rows of recurved linear processes tipped with an obtuse gland. Nuts puberulous, 3- or more rarely 2-winged, wings produced upwards into sharp flat points.—Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 229; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 249; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 89. Nothofagus Menziesii, Oerst. in Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. v. ix. (1873) 355.
North Island: Mountain forests from the Thames goldfields southwards, but rare and local to the north of the East Cape. South Island: Hilly and mountain forests from Nelson to Foveaux Strait, most plentiful on the west side of the island. Sea-level to 3500ft. Taiohai; Tawai; Silver-birch; Red-birch. November–January.
Easily distinguished by the rigid doubly toothed leaves and recurved glandular processes on the fruiting involucres. The wood is dark-red, strong and compact, and easily worked, but is not durable when exposed to the weather. It has been recommended for furniture, tubs and buckets, winecasks, &c., but is not largely used at the present time.
It is worth remarking that the tips of the branches are sometimes diseased and converted into much-branched paniculate masses clothed with fulvous imbricating scales, closely resembling a paniculate inflorescence in young bud. On the under-surface of the leaves, at the junction of the main veins with the midrib, there are usually 1–3 curious fringed pits or domatia, very similar to those on the leaves of certain Coprosmas.
2. F. fusca, Hook. f. in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 631.—A noble forest-tree 60–100 ft. high; trunk 4–8 ft. diam.; bark dark-brown or black in old plants, deeply furrowed, smooth and greyish-white on young trees; branchlets and petioles pubescent. Leaves evergreen, petiolate, ¾–1½ in. long, broadly ovate or ovate-oblong, obtuse or rarely acute, cuneate at the base, rather thin but firm, pubescent above and glandular beneath when young, glabrous when old, deeply and sharply serrate, veins conspicuous; stipules linear-oblong, caducous. Male flowers 2–3 at the end of a short curved axillary peduncle or more rarely solitary, drooping. Perianth 5-toothed, membranous, pubescent. Stamens 8–16. Female involucres solitary in the upper axils, 2–3-flowered. Fruiting involucres ⅓–½ in. long, ovoid-globose, viscid-pubescent, 4-lobed; lobes furnished at the back with 3–5 transverse lamellæ with entire or fringed margins. Nuts pubescent, 2–3-winged, wings produced upwards into entire or toothed points.—Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook, f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 229; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 249; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 90. Nothofagus fusca, Oerst. in Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. v. ix. (1873) 355.
Var. Colensoi, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 229.—Leaves more coriaceous, teeth smaller, obtuse.—Ic. Plant. t. 630; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 90, f. 2. F. truncata, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxi. (1899) 280.
North Island: In forests from Mongonui and Kaitaia southwards, but local to the north of the East Cape. South Island: From Nelson to Foveaux Strait, but rare in Canterbury and eastern Otago. Sea-level to 3500 ft. Tawhai; Tawhai-rau-nui; Black-birch; Red-birch. October–December.
​A magnificent tree, undoubtedly the finest representative of the genus in New Zealand, and well marked off by the comparatively thin veined leaves with sharply toothed margins. Wood dark-red, strong and compact, more durable than that of the other species, and frequently used for wharves, bridges, fencing-posts, &c.
3. F. apiculata, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 335.—A tall handsome tree 40 ft. high or more; trunk 2 ft. diam.; bark pale, smooth; branchlets pubescent. Leaves petiolate, ¾–1 in. long, oblong or ovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, apiculate, cuneate at the base, rather thin, glabrous, quite entire or minutely or irregularly crenulate, veins not very conspicuous; stipules membranous, linear-oblong. Male flowers 1 or rarely 2 at the end of a short axillary peduncle, drooping. Perianth campanulate, membranous, 5-toothed. Stamens 8–14. Female involucres solitary in the axils of the leaves above the male inflorescence, 2–3-flowered. Fruiting involucres ¼–⅓ in. long, narrow-ovoid, pubescent, 4-lobed; lobes with 2–4 transverse lamellæ. Nuts pubescent, 2–3-winged, wings produced upwards into entire points.—Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 135.
Var. dubia.—Leaves more coriaceous, oblong or oblong-obovate, obtuse or rarely apiculate, slightly pubescent beneath, upper half obscurely toothed or sinuate.—F. fusca, var. dubia and var. obsoleta, Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 91.
North Island: Hawke's Bay—Forests near Dannevirke and Norsewood, Colenso! Var. dubia: Mungaroa and other localities near Wellington, Kirk! November–December.
Very closely related to F. fusca, but I think sufficiently distinct in the smaller and narrower leaves which in the typical form are distinctly apiculate and either quite entire or very minutely crenulate, and in the smaller and narrower involucres. Var. dubia was placed under F. fusca by Kirk, and it certainly approaches var. Colensoi of that species; but, on the whole, appears to be nearer to F. apiculata.
4. F. Blairii, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1885) 297.—A tall tree 40–60 ft. high; trunk 2–3 ft. diam.; branchlets and petioles pubescent. Leaves petiolate, spreading, ⅔–¾ in. long, ⅓–½ in. broad, ovate, acute or apiculate, rounded at the base, quite entire, coriaceous, glabrous above, beneath clothed with fulvous appressed tomentum. Flowers not seen. Fruiting involucre ¼–⅓ in. long, ovoid, glabrous, 4-lobed; lobes with 3–4 membranous transverse lamellæ. Nuts 3-winged, broad at the base, narrowed above.—Forest Fl. t. 57.
North Island: Forests near the source of the Wanganui River, Kirk! South Island: Nelson—Wairau Valley, Buller Valley, Little Grey River, Kirk! Otago—Five-fingers Plain, W. N. Blair; Martin's Bay, Buchanan; Lake Wakatipu, Valley of the Dart, Kirk! 1000–2500 ft.
An imperfectly known plant, apparently differing from F. Solandri in the broader ovate apiculate leaves, fulvous pubescence, and 4-valved fruiting involucre. Some specimens without flower or fruit, collected by Petrie near Arrowtown, Otago, agree with F. Blairii in the thick fulvous pubescence on the undersurface of the leaves, but the leaves are more oblong and obscurely toothed or sinuate, much as in F. apiculata var. dubia.
​5. F. Solandri, Hook. f. in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 639.—A lofty forest-tree 40–80 ft. high; trunk 2–5 ft. diam.; bark black and furrowed on old trees, pale and smooth on young ones; branchlets closely pubescent. Leaves evergreen, shortly petiolate, ¼–¾ in. long, linear-oblong to elliptic-oblong, obtuse, cuneate and usually unequal-sided at the base, quite entire, coriaceous, glabrous and reticulated above, clothed with appressed greyish-white pubescence beneath, margins recurved; stipules membranous, caducous. Male flowers axillary, either solitary or 2–3 on a short common peduncle. Perianth broad and shallow, cup-shaped, shortly 4–5-toothed. Stamens 8–15. Female involucres solitary in the upper axils, sessile, 2–3-flowered. Fruiting involucres ¼ in. long, ovoid, glabrous or pubescent, usually 3-lobed; lobes with three membranous transverse lamellæ. Nuts 2–3-winged, broad at the base, narrowed above.—Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 230; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 250; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 56. Nothofagus Solanderi, Oerst. in Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. v. ix. (1873) 355.
North and South Islands: Forests from the East Cape to the south of Otago, usually in hilly or mountain districts. Sea-level to 2500 ft. Tawhai; Tawhai-raitriki; Black-birch; White-birch. November–December.
Wood pale-red, often streaked with black, not durable unless taken from fully mature trees. Young trees often have the leaves distichously arranged, with the under-surface glabrous or nearly so.
6. F. cliffortioides, Hook. f. in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 673 and t. 816b.—A small tree, usually from 20 ft. to 40 ft. high, rarely more, with a trunk 1–2 ft. diam., in alpine localities often dwarfed into a much-branched bush 5–12 ft. high. Branches spreading, often distichous, especially in young trees; branchlets densely pubescent. Leaves shortly petiolate, distichous, ⅙–⅔ in. long, ovate-oblong or ovate or ovate-orbicular, acute or subacute, rarely obtuse, always broadest at the unequally rounded or almost cordate base, quite entire, very coriaceous, glabrous and reticulated above, more or less clothed with greyish-white appressed hairs beneath; margins thickened, often recurved; stipules membranous, caducous. Male flowers axillary, solitary or in pairs on very short peduncles, often very abundantly produced. Perianth broad, cup -shaped, shortly 4–5-toothed. Stamens 8–15. Female involucres solitary and sessile in the upper axils, 2–3-flowered. Fruiting involucres ⅙–¼ in. long, ovoid, pubescent, 3-lobed; lobes with two or three transverse fringed lamellae. Nuts 2–3-winged, ovoid, acute.—Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 230; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 250; Kirk, Forest Fl. tt. 101, 101a. Nothofagus cliffortioides, Oerst. in Vidensk. Sellsk. Skr. v. ix. (1873) 355.
North Island: Mountain districts from the East Cape and Tongariro southwards. South Island: Abundant in the mountains throughout, usually forming the greater portion of the subalpine forests. Altitudinal range from 2000 ft. to 4500 ft., but descending to sea-level in the sounds on the south-west coast of Otago. Tawhai-rauriki; Mountain Beech or Birch. December–January.
​Closely allied to F. Solandri, but much smaller, with the leaves truly ovate, broadest at the base, and usually acute at the tip. Wood very similar to that of F. Solandri.