matai

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

often abridged to Mai, n.Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Podocarpus spicata,R. Br., N.O. Coniferae. Black-pine of Otago.


1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand,' p. 124:

«Mr. Buchanan has described a log of matai that he found hadbeen exposed for at least 200 years in a dense damp bush inNorth-East Valley, Dunedin, as proved by its being enfolded bythe roots of three large trees of Griselinia littoralis.»

See mai