Beilschmiedia tarairi (A.Cunn.) Benth. & Hook.f. Auckland. Awhitu Peninsula, 350 feet, April 1946, G.H.C. Carrodetus serratus Forst. Auckland. Trounson Kauri Park, 450 feet, July 1941, G.H.C. Dacrydium cupressinum Sol. Westland. Waiho, Dec. 1946, Joan Dingley; Weheka, Nov. 1946, Joan Dingley. Metrosideros robusta A.Cunn. Auckland. Cuttygrass Road, Waitakere Ranges, Oct. 1947, Joan Dingley; Riverhead, May 1947, G.B.Rawlings; Upper Piha, Aug. 1947, Joan Dingley; Mangatawhiri Valley, Hunua Range, July 1946, Joan Dingley; Moumoukai Valley, Hunua Range, July 1946, Joan Dingley; Mt. Te Aroha, 1,750 feet, Nov. 1946, G.H.C. Taranaki. Egmont 2,300 feet, Dec. 1947, G.H.C. Wellington. Weraroa, 150 Feet, July 1919, G.H.C.; Lake Papaetonga, 50 feet, Dec. 1947 G.H.C. Podocarpus spicatus R.Br. Wellington. Lake Papaetonga, 50 feet, Oct. 1930, G.H.C.

Hymenophore perennial, dimidiate, often imbricate, firm and woody. Pileus applanate, effused-reflexed, sometimes resupinate, 3-25 cm. x 2-16 cm. x 0.5-4 cm.; surface bay-brown, chestnut-brown, or umber towards the base, strongly concentrically sulcate and ridged, at first tomentose, becoming glabrous, cuticle absent; margin bluntly rounded, fulvous or chestnut-brown, even; hymemal surface chestnut-brown, sometimes darker when old, even, slightly glancing, sterile border 1-3 mm. wide, dissepiments not toothed. Context to 5 mm. thick, chestnut-brown, of radiately arranged mainly parallel hyphae; skeletal hyphae to 4 µ thick, wall 1 µ, yellow-brown or chestnut-brown, sparsely branched, pseudoseptate; generative hyphae 3-3.5 µ thick, wall 0.5 µ, hyaline or tinted, branched, septate. Pores round, stratose, 2-4 mm. deep in each layer, ferruginous in section, 100-150 µ diameter, or 5-6 per mm.; dissepiments 30-150 µ thick, equal, apex finely velutinate. Setae subulate, frequently dilated at the base, apex acuminate, chestnut-brown, 24-32 x 6-8 µ. Basidia clavate, 8-12 x 4-5 µ. Spores obovate, subglobose, or globose, 4.5-5.5 x 3-3.5 µ, smooth, hyaline, a few tinted yellow.

DISTRIBUTION : New Zealand.

HABITAT: Growing solitary or imbricate upon bark or decorticated wood of dead standing or fallen trunks associated with a white pocket-rot.

Characters of the species are the thin applanate pileus with strongly concentrically sulcate surface, absence of a definite cuticle, chestnut-brown colour of context and hymenium, small pores, subulate acuminate setae not exceeding 32 µ in length, and obovate small hyaline spores. Collections forwarded to the late C.G.Lloyd and J.R.Weir were identified as Fomes senex (Nees & Mont.) Cke. According to Lloyd (1915, p. 259) spores of the latter are deeply coloured. Specimens so named (ex Mardai Road; Pahang; and Reservoir Jungle, Singapore), forwarded by E.J.Corner, were found to possess hyaline spores of exactly the same size, shape and colour as those of F. zelandicus. These and other similar features led Corner (1932, p. 16) to suggest that both are co-specific. Singapore collections of F.senex differ, however; for pores are 50-75 µ diameter, or 9-10 per mm., and dissepiments are 50-75 µ thick, characters by which the species may be separated from ours.

Cunningham (1948f) listed collections on Beilschmiedia, Carpodeotus and Metrosideros as Fomes zealandicus Cke., but in 1965 separated F. senex from F. zealandicus on morphology of the hymenial layer; he placed both species in the genus Phellinus. Gilmour (1966a) listed it as causing a white pocket heart rot in these native trees. It is of minor economic importance.

Type: Lignicolous Fungi; Description: Basidiomata perennial, solitary, firm and woody, attached by a broad lateral base. Pilei applanate or effused-reflexed, 30–250 mm wide, 40 mm thick. Pileus surface tomentose, becoming glabrous, concentrically sulcate and ridged, chestnut brown to cinnamon brown, darkening to deep brown when old, margin even, chestnut brown. Pore surface even, with a sterile border 1–3 mm wide, chestnut brown, darkening with age; pores stratose, small, 7–9 per mm. Context cinnamon brown, up to 5 mm thick. Hyphal system dimitic. Setae subulate, acuminate, 15–30 × 5–9 μm, chestnut brown. Basidiospores broadly ellipsoid, 4–6 × 3–4 μm, smooth, hyaline.

Distribution: Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Westland, Mid Canterbury, Stewart Island.; 1st Record: Cunningham (1927: as Fomes zelandicus — see Cunningham 1949).

Significance: The common cause of a white-pocket heart-rot, which has no significance.; Host(s): Beilschmiedia tarairi, Carpodetus serratus, Dacrydium cupressinum, Metrosideros excelsa, M. robusta, Nothofagus menziesii, Prumnopitys taxifolia, Weinmannia racemosa.