2. Knightia, R. Br.

Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, coriaceous, coarsely toothed or entire. Flowers hermaphrodite, regular, arranged in axillary or terminal dense-flowered racemes; pedicels in pairs. Perianth cylindrical; the segments at first cohering by their margins, but ultimately separating and revolute to the base. Stamens affixed above the middle of the segments; filaments very short; anthers long, linear, acute. Hypogynous glands 4, distinct. Ovary sessile, 1-celled; style long, straight, linear-clavate; ovules 4. Follicles coriaceous, 1-celled, 4-seeded. Seeds winged at the top.

A small genus of 3 species, the typical one confined to New Zealand. The remaining two are natives of New Caledonia, and form the subgenus Eucarpha, characterized by the large deciduous bracts.

• 1. K. excelsa, R. Br. in Trans. Linn. Soc. x. (1810) 194, t. 2.— A tall slender tapering tree 60–90 ft. high, with the narrow fastigiate mode of growth of a Lombardy poplar; trunk 2–4 ft. diam.; bark dark-brown or almost black; branches erect, the younger ones angled and clothed with rusty brown pubescence. Leaves of mature trees 4–6 in. long, linear-oblong or narrow obovate-oblong, obtuse, coarsely and bluntly toothed, very coriaceous, hard, rigid, almost woody, pubescent when young, quite glabrous when old; leaves of young trees not so coriaceous, longer and narrower, 4–10 in. long, linear or linear-lanceolate, often acute, more acutely serrate. Racemes lateral, sessile, 2–4 in. long; peduncles and perianth densely clothed with bright red-brown velvety tomentum. Flowers in pairs on short pedicels, densely crowded, 1–1½ in. long. Perianth cylindric, swollen above; segments separating to the base and coiling up into a twisted mass. Ovary tomentose; style 1–1¼ in. long, stout, erect, clavate above. Follicles 1½ in. long, pubescent, tapering into the persistent style, ultimately splitting into 2 boat-shaped valves.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 350; Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zd. i. 219; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 241; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 35.

  North Island: Common in woods throughout. South Island: Southern shores of Cook Strait, Croixelles Harbour, Kirk; Pelorus Sound, Buchanan, J. Rutland! Sea-level to 2800 ft. Honeysuckle; Rewarewa. November–December.

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  A tall handsome tree, easily distinguished by its fastigiate mode of growth. The wood is beautifully variegated, reddish on a light-brown ground, and is much used for inlaying and cabinetwork, ornamental turnery, &c. For an account of the fertilisation of the flowers, see a paper by myself in Vol. II. of the Journal of the Australasian Association.