Flora of New Zealand Series

Fagus fusca Hook. f. Ic. Pl. 1844, t. 630.

F. fusca var. ( Colensoi Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1854, 229.

F. truncata Col. in T.N.Z.I. 31, 1899, 280.

N. fusca var. colensoi (Hook. f.) Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 375.

Hard beech.

Type locality: "Ruahine Ranges, eastern side". Type: W, "Oct. 1898, H. Hill".

Tree up to 30 m. tall; trunk up to 2 m. diam. or more, often buttressed. Lvs thick, coriac., 25-35 × 20 mm., on petioles 2-3 mm. long; lamina glab. or nearly so, broad-ovate to elliptic-oblong to subrotund, cuneate at base; coarsely, shallowly, bluntly serrate, with 8-12 pairs of teeth; venation distinct. Domatia very rare. Staminate infls 1-8 per branchlet; peduncles up to 10 mm. long, sparsely pubescent; fls 1-3, subsessile. Per. campanulate, 4 mm. long, shallowly obtusely 5-lobed. Stamens 10-13; anthers 3 mm. long, yellow or dark orange. Pistillate infls 1-5 per branchlet, sessile, ovoid, 2-3 mm. long, sparsely pubescent. Fls as in N. fusca, but stigmas less distinctly bilobed. Cupule up to 10 mm. long, 4-partite, segs acute, glands as in N. fusca. Nuts puberulous, 8 mm. long.

DIST.: N., S. Lowland and lower montane forest from lat. 35° to 42° 30', except Mount Egmont.

FL. 9-12. FT. 11-3.

Wood pinkish when fresh; bark of trunk dark slate-grey to blackish, scales small. Lvs of juveniles smaller, often more rotund.