very coriaceous; petioles short, stout, glabrous or puberulous. Flowers dark-scarlet, very abundantly produced, in broad and dense terminal many-flowered cymes; peduncles and pedicels short, stout, pubescent. Calyx-tube short, obconic; lobes short and broad, triangular. Petals exceeding the calyx-lobes, orbicular. Ovary adnate to the base of the calyx-tube and included within it during the flowering stage. Capsule small, oblong, ¼–⅓ in. long, half-superior, girt round the middle by the rim of the calyx-tube, the free upper part loculicidally 3-valved.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 68, t. 17; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 72; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 128; Students' Fl. 162. M. florida, Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 4471 (not of Smith).
Var. retusa, Kirk, l.c.—Leaves shorter, ½–¾ in. long, elliptic, rounded at both ends, retuse.—Two specimens in Mr. Kirk's herbarium, from Lowry Bay, Wellington.
North and South Islands: Abundant in forests from the North Cape southwards to Marlborough. Nelson, and Westland. Sea-level to 3000ft. Rata. December–January.
A magnificent tree, sometimes reaching a gigantic size, specimens having been measured with trunks over 20 ft. diam. It usually (but not invariably) commences life as an epiphyte in the upper branches of some tall forest-tree, sending to the ground aerial roots, which coalesce and form a trunk after the death of the supporting plant. Terrestrial specimens are frequently seen, but these either have no trunk at all, keeping during life the habit of a much-branched bushy shrub, or produce a short, straight trunk of no great size. The timber is strong, hard, and durable, and is much employed for wheelwrights' work, framework for machinery, wagons, &c., and for shipbuilding.
9. M. tomentosa, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 336, t. 37.—Usually a much-branched tree 30–70 ft. high, with a short stout trunk 2–6 ft. diam., and large wide-spreading branches, but sometimes dwarfed to a few feet in height; branchlets stout, terete, tomentose. Leaves decussate, very variable in size and shape, 1–4 in. long, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate to oblong or broadly oblong, acute or obtuse, rounaed at the base, very thick and coriaceous, usually clothed with white tomentum beneath, rarely glabrous; margins flat or recurved; petioles short, stout. Flowers large, dark-crimson, in broad terminal many-flowered cymes; peduncles and pedicels stout, and with the calyces clothed with dense white tomentum. Calyx-tube obconic; lobes short, deltoid. Petals oblong, obtuse, exceeding the calyx-tube. Stamens numerous, 1¼–1½ in. long. Ovary 3-celled, adnate to the base of the calyx-tube, and sunk within it during the flowering stage. Capsule ⅓ in. long, half-superior, woody, tomentose, girt round the middle by the persistent calyx-limb, the free upper part loculicidally 3-valved.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 558; Raoul, Choix, 49; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 68; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 72; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 118; Students' Fl. 163.
