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It will be my endeavour to remedy this defect, as far as New Zealand is concerned;
but I fear there are difhculties at the outset, rvhicli rvill deter many from taking advantage
of my attempt. In the &st place, it is impossible to write Botanical descriptions which a
person ignorant of Botany can understand; altliough it is supposed by many unacquainted
with science, that this can and should be done. Such persons w-ould allow that it requires
a special study, and the knowledge of various technical terms, to determine a latitude, or
measure a mountain; and they regard the proficient in these matters as profoundly learned:
they forget that no more science is requued in following practically the operations of the
astronomer or sm-veyor, than in naming plants by artificial systems. Both are nevertheless
very useful operations, involving a certain amount of application, and the acquirement of
some technical knowdedge; and ai'e equally capable of being tinned to good account upon
every occasion, though their exercise demands no high effort of the mind, and their pm-suit
does not make a man scientific. On the other hand, to assign to plants their positions in
the Natural System requu-es an infinitely higher exercise of the faculties; and is one which,
if it does not rank ivith the profound abstractions of the astronomer and mathematician,
demands more study and experience thau is usually supposed. If, however, I have not been
able to w-rite down to the capacity of those unacquainted with the natm-e of plants, and wdio
will not take the trouble to gain tliis knowledge, I have at least endeavoured to avoid all
unnecessary technicalities and repetitions, and to give, as briefly as possible, such information
as will identify a plant.
I w'ould strongly recommend the beginner first to acquire the scientific names of
a few conspicuous New Zealand plants, either through some friend, or by aid of the
native names (whose imperfection I extremely regret), or by the figm-es, or the notes
appended to the descriptions; and to observe which of them are Eiuopean. Then let him
take any elementary work, and refer these plants to their Natural Orders, of which the characters
should be studied oarefuUy, and a complete knowledge acquired of the relations and
uses of each part. Take, for instance, “ Puawhananga,” the first plant in this book: it
is well known, and impossible to be mistaken: it belongs to an English Natural Order
a description of which will be found in Dr. Lindley’s ‘ School Botany,’ and should be
studied with the plant. By repeating this operation several times, the student wiU insensibly
acquire a knowledge of the New Zealand Elora, for the study of one loads to the
determination of many.
I have not given the characters of the Natural Orders, as a knowledge of them belongs
rather to the grammar of Botany, and they are not necessary for scientific Botanists ; but I shall
append to the Introduction an English Synopsis of the New Zealand ones. In the nicanwlulc,
the beginner should possess himself of Dr. Lindley’s 'Vegetable Kingdom*;’ and, to master
* A very thick octavo volume, with admirable woodcuts, and full descriptions, written in the simplest language,
of all the Natural Orders, their relations, uses, distribution, etc. The price is 30s., that of the ‘ School
Botany,’ 5s. 6i/., and that of the ‘ Elements of Botany,’ 12s. It is much to be desired that these and similar works
be added to colonial schools and public libraries. Dr. Balfour’s ‘Manual’ costs 12s. 6i7.
the rudiments of the science, also of his ‘ School Botany’ and ‘Elements of Botany, or of
Dr. Balfom-’s ‘ Manual ;’ works that will afford him every facility for acquiring a thorough
elementary knowdedge of the subject. One prominent but unavoidable drawback w-ill
appear common to the three latter books—their being illustrated by numerous woodcuts
of English, and not of New Zealand plants ; this objection is, however, more apparent
than real, for a garden will supply many of the deficiencies, and the task of seeking for
allied wild plants in lieu of the others w-ill prove very instructive.
It remains to say something of the plan I have followed, and to explain some common
abbreviations which look puzzling. The an-angement is according to the Natm-al System.
A Latin description of the genus is given, for the use of Botanists : the letters immediately
following the generic name indicate the author who first proposed it. Of these,
“ DC.” is very common, and stands for the late A. P. De Candolle, an eminent Genevese
Professor of Botany, who was the author of the first eight volumes of the only good general
work on Systematic Botany wdiich was ever carried out on the Natural System, and which
is now being continued by his son Alphonse, and other authors. “ Br.” indicates Mr,
Robert Brown, the greatest botanist of this or any other age, and who is knowm wherever
science is appreciated ; he is Keeper of the Botanical Collections in the British Museum,
and accompanied Captain Ehnders’s voyage of survey to Australia in 1801. “ L .” or “ Lmn.”
always stands for Linnæus, and “ Juss.” for Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, who is regarded
as the systematizer of the Natural Orders of plants. To the Latin generic character succeeds
a popular English description, containing only so much technical matter as shall enable the
New Zealand student to determine to which genus his plant belongs. Wliat accompanies
this is intended to convey some idea of the importance of the genus, relatively to the New
Zealand Elora, and to the Vegetable Kingdom in general ; containing also general information
concerning its distribution, the origin of its name (which frequently helps to impress it on
the memory), and often more abstruse matter, intended only for the proficient in Botany.
Under the Genera, the species are arranged and described, first in Latin*, with quotations
of a limited number of the authors who have previously described each. Of these,
the following are the most important. Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander visited the
Northern Island during Cook’s first voyage, and made magnificent collections, which, w-ith
a scries of drawings and manuscripts, arc now deposited in the British Museum r they published
no general account of their discoveries, but descriptions of many w-ere contributed to
various authors. The tw-o Eorsters (father and son) accompanied Cook’s second voyage,
and the plants then collected were briefly and insuificiently described by Dr. Sparrmann, in
a work called ‘ Forster’s Prodromus.’ M. A. Richard published a work in Paris, from the
materials collected during Admiral D’Ui-ville’s voyage in 1827. In 1837 the late Mr. Allan
Cmmingham (Colonial Botanist at Sydney), having visited the Bay of Islands and adjacent
coasts (as his brother Richard had also previously done), drew up a ‘ Procb-omus Ploræ
* Except in tie case of some plants, so very common, that the botanist, for whom the Latin descriptions are
intended, requires none.
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