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.
