'V JlOliA OF KEW ZBALAKD.
Astrolabe), and accompanied by M. Lesson, a distinguished naturalist. The combined collections of
these individuals and two voyages, amounting to 200 species of flowering plants and Ferns, were published
by the late Professor A. Richard, in his 'E ss a i d’une Flore do la Nouvelle-ZMande.’ This is
a work of considerable merit, in which were included all Forster’s plants in the Paris Museum, with
extracts from Ids MSS. th a t accompany them.
On the establishment of Colonial Gardens and botanists at Sydney, New Zealand became an object
of especial interest to the latter, and the Bay of Islands was risited by Mr. Charles Frazer in
1825, by his successor AUan Cmmingham in 1826, by Eichai-d Cimningham (brother to the latter)
in 1833, and again by Allan in 1838, dui-ing which risit this indefatigable collector contracted, tlmough
exposure and fatigue, the illness which terminated his life at Sydney in 1839. After his first expedition
Allan Cunningham prepared his Prodromus, which was published in detached portions in
several botanical periodicals*. In this he enumerated all the previously published species of Forster
and A. Richard, b u t the work is so unsatisfactory and incomplete th a t were it not for the invaluable
herbaiium of both Cunninghams, now in Mr. Heward’s possessionf, I should have found it impossible
to have quoted the ' Prodi-omus’ with any degree of confidence.
Amongst the earher explorers of this period. Dr. Logan, now a resident in the colony, deserves
especial mention; his contributions of excellent specimens arriving a t a time when New Zealand
plants were almost the rarest, and scientifically the most interesting. I t is however irithin the last
twelve years, and since New Zealand has attracted the notice of colonists, th a t the most important
accessions to its botany have been made, and it is to correspondents, most of them still alive, and
actively engaged in pm-suing their investigations, th a t I am indebted for the materials of these
volumes. The Reverend WiUiam Colenso, Dr. Andrew Sinclair, R.N., my lamented friend J. T.
BidwUl, Esq., Dr. Dieffenhach, M. Raoul, and Dr. Lyall, stand pre-eminent as indefatigable explorers
and collectors. Mr. Colenso’s researches have extended uninten-uptedly over iipwai-ds of
twelve years, during which he has traversed a great part both of the coast and interior of the Northern
Island, and has been the principal contributor to our knowledge of its botany. Dr. Sinclair has also
devoted many years to the New Zealand Flora, and has made numerous most interesting discoveries,
especially on th e east coast, and has transmitted such copious suites of excellent specimens as are
most valuable for botanical purposes. Mr. Bidwill and Dr. Dieffenhach were the first explorers of
the lofty mountains of the interior : Mr. BidwiU indeed ascended both Tongariro and the Nelson
range, and formed collections of the greatest interest and value, accompanied by valuable notes on the
elevation at which the plants were gathered, their variations, periods of flowering, and many other
important pointsi- M. Raoul accompanied the French frigate L ’Auhe in 1840 and 1841, and again
L ’Aiher in 1842-3, during which voyages he made a very complete botauical exploration of Banks’
Peninsula and the Bay of Islands. His admfrahle collections were deposited in the Jardin des
Plantes at Paris, where they were placed at my disposal by M. Raoul, with whom I had the pleasui-e
of examining them in 1845 ; a complete set was also detached for Sir W. Hooker’s Herharium, and
has been of the greatest use to me. A selection from the new species was described by MM. Raoul
* Under the title of ‘ Floræ Novæ Zelandioe Præciii-soi-,’ in the ‘ Companion to the Botanical Magazine,’
vol. 2, and concluded in the ‘Annals of Natural History,’ vols. 1, 2, and 3.
t I am indebted to Mr. Heward’s liberality for the unreserved use of this extremely valuable collection.
Î The Nelson Mountains have since been again explored by Dr. Monro, who has added a few remarkable
novelties that had escaped Mr. Eidwill’s notice, and whose excellent collections arc, I hope, an earnest of still
further discoveries.
INTEODUCTOE.Y ESSAY. Y
and Decaisne in the ‘ Annales des Sciences Naturelles-*-,’ and the beautiful ‘ Choix de Plantes de la
Nouvelle-Zélande,’ published in 1846, a work accompanied w ith plates of rare excellence as botanical
drawings, and with a careful enumcrationf of all known New Zealand plants, compiled from the
collections in the Paris Museum, and from M. Richard’s and Cunningham’s Floras.
In 1847 H.M.St.V. Acheron was commissioned by Captain Stokes, R.N., for the survey of New
Zealand, to explore the western and southern coasts ; and we are indebted to the exertions of the
eminent hydrographer of the navy. Sir Francis Beaufort, for the selection of a naturalist as surgeon
to the expedition. My friend Dr. Lyall, in whose company I had formerly botanized in the Bay of
Islands during the A ntarctic Expeditionjl, was selected for the service ; and devoting himself, like Mr.
Menzies, with indefatigable zeal to the lower Orders especially, he amassed the most beautiful and
important collections in these branches of botany, th a t have ever been formed ; besides making considerable
discoveries in Phæiiogamic plants, and collecting many th a t had previously only been
gathered by Banks and Solander and th e Forsters.
As far as th e discovery of species is concerned, th e above enumeration brings me down to the
present state of om- knowledge of the New Zealand F lo ra; but it remains for me to observe th a t
within the last three years, indeed since the announcement of this work being forthcoming, I have
been favoured with more than a dozen collections from various parts of the island. Of new gleaners
in the field, I w'ould especially mention Dr. Monro, Mr. Knight, the Rev. Mr. Taylor, Captain
Drury, jMr. Jolliffe, Captain D. Bough, and Lieutenant-Colonel Bolton; all of whom have sent
valuable contributions. I t is true th a t these contain little novelty, but they throw light on the
distribution of the species, and afford materials for tracing their geographical limits.
Prom these materials the ‘ Flora of New Zealand’ has been worked up : its probable completeness
may he judged of by the fact th a t th e islands have been botanized on by upwards of thirty-five
individuals, whose specimens have (with a few unimportant exceptions) all passed under my eye.
The Flora of the Northern Island has been tolerably weU examined, so far as its flowering plants are
concerned ; though there remains a good deal to bo done on the west coast, especially in the neighbourhood
of Mount Egmont. Dr. Lyall alone has collected in the Southern Island, or on the west
coast north of D usky Bay. The Middle Island has been visited by few explorers, its north and east
coasts alone having been botanized : tlie west and the whole mountain range require a cai-eful survey ;
and oonsidoriiig how many Auckland and Campbell Islands plants are still strangers to New Zealand,
it cannot he doubted th a t much remains to be discovered there. Excepting from the above-mentioned
tracts, I do not expect much novelty amongst flowering plants, for the following reasons :—
1 , tlicre is a remarkable sameness in the flora throughout large tracts§ ; 2, because out of the
730 flow-ering plants known, there are scarcely one hundred th a t have not been gathered by several
individuals ; 3, because the collections I liave lately received, though some of them are extensive,
and from scarcely visited localities, yet contain little or no novelty. W ith Cryptogamia the case is
widely different; and it is difficult to estimate the vast number, especially of Mosses, Hepaticæ, and
* Annales des Sciences Naturelles, August, 1844.
t In this cnumei-ation upwards of 500 species of flowering plants are named, but fully one hundred of these
are synonyms, introduced species, or erroneous ones of Cunningham and others.
X In the above list I have not thought it necessary to allude to the collections made at the Bay of Islands by
Dr. Lyall and myself in the Antarctic Expedition : they contained no novelty amongst flowering plants, not known to
Mr. Colenso and Dr. Sinclair, with whom I spent many happy days. Amongst Cryptogamic plants I collected much
that was then new, but most of the species have since been found elsewhere.
§ In this respect New Zealand contrasts remarkably with Tasmania.