11 rLORA OE NEW ZEALAND.
adopt widely different conclusions as to theii’ limits and origin, from one wlio regards them as distinct
creations; and lie who denies th a t a plant which grows spontaneously in England and New Zealand
can have originated ffom one common parent, will reason differently on the subject of migration and
dispersion from him wlio holds an opposite view. Now the actual amount of loiowledge we possess
on such subjects is so very limited, th a t few experienced natui'alists are inclined to pronounce positively
upon them, whilst the majority offer no opinion at all. I am very sensible of m y own inability
to grapple -with these great questions, of the extreme caution and judgment required in their tre a tment,
and of the experience necessary to enable an observer to estimate the importance of characters
whose value varies u ith every organ and in every order of plants. I think, however, th a t there is
a mean to be kept between the dogmatism with which a lai’ge class of naturalists (generally of very
limited experience) decide upon species, and the vagueness which characterizes the writings of others
in all th a t refers to them ; this, and the fact th a t most persons commence botany without any definite
idea of what meaning naturalists attach to the term, or of its importance, have also induced me
to address some cautions to the student, suggested by those theoretical principles which the study of
the New Zealand Flora may help to develope. This I propose to do under three heads or chapters,
which will be devoted—1. To th e history of New Zealand Botany, showing the labours of my predecessors,
the nature and amount of the materials th a t have been available to myself, and the probable
limits of the New Zealand Flora.—3. To the views I have adopted in the descriptive pai’t as to
the affinities, limits, origin, variation, distiibution, and dispersion of plants generally.—3. To the
illustration and development of these views by an analysis of the New Zealand Flora, and its relation
to those of other countries.
CH A PT ER I.
SUilMARY OF THE HISTORY OF THE BOTANY OF NEW ZEALAND.
F or the earliest account of the plants of these Islands we are indebted to two of the most iRus-
trious botanists of their age, and to the voyages of the greatest of modern navigators; for the first,
and to this day the finest and best illustrated herbarium th a t has ever been made in the islands by
individual exertions is th a t of Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander, during Captain Cookes first voyage
in 1769. Upwards of 360 species of plants were collected during the five months th a t were devoted
to the exploration of these coasts, at various points between the Bay of Islands and Otago, including
the shores of Cook's S tra its ; and the results are admirable, whether we consider tlie excellence of the
specimens, the judgment with which they were selected, the artistic drawings by which they are illustrated,
and above all the accurate MS. descriptions and observations th a t accompany them. That
the latter, which include a complete Flora of New Zealand as far as then known, systematically arranged,
iRustrated by two hundred copper-plate engravings, and aR ready for the press, should have
been withheld from pubUcation by its Rlustrious authors, is (considering the circumstances imder
which it was prepared) a national loss, and to science a grievous one, since, had it been otherwise,
the botany of New Zealand would have been better known fifty years ago th an it now is .
Captain Cook was, on his second voyage, accompanied by three scientific men, all more or less conversant
with botany, namely, the two Forsters (father and son), and Dr. Sparrmaim, who joined the
expedition at the Cape of Good Hope. Queen Charlotte’s Sound, in Cook’s Straits, and Dusky
Bay were the chief points botanized. From the former, as it had been premously explored by Banks
and Solander, little novelty was to be expected, and from the latter, which has lately proved so n e h
in interesting plants, little, comparatively speaking, was brought. About 160 species of flowering
plants and Ferns were coUeoted in all, and these were (often inaccurately named) distributed amongst
many public and private Museums. I have examined a set in the Paris Museum, another m the
Banksian, and a th ird in my father’s t, and in these eoUeetions the same plant has sometimes different
names; this has given rise to much confusion and synonymy, and false identification of the p lm ts
published in the <Nova Genera Plantarum’ and ’ Prodromus Flora; Insularum Australmm, The
latter work contains descriptions of 150 New Zealand species; these are supposed to have been elaborated
by Dr. Sparrmann, and even for th e period are very unsatisfactory. Forster’s ‘ Commen-
tatio de Plantis esoulentis insnlamm Oeeani A ustralis’ contains better descriptions, and m uch cnnous
information on the few edible plants of th e is la n d s j. Mr. Anderson, surgeon to Cook’s th ird expedition,
undertook the botanical department on th a t voyage; b u t though Dusky Bay was msited a second
time, nothing of importance was added to its botany. I t remained for Mr. Menzies, th e surgeon and
naturalist of Captain Vancouver’s voyage, to discover the cryptogamic riches of New Zealand, and
especially those of Dusky Bay. That natm-alist devoted himself to the collection of Mosses and
HepaticEO, and this at a time when these objects were scarcely thought worthy of attention, and their
structure and functions little known or understood. Most of his collections were placed in Sir W illiam
Hooker’s hands, and many of them were beantifidly illustrated m the ‘ Musoi Exotioi.’
F o r upwards of twenty years after Cook’s voyage New Zealand remained unvisited by any n a tu ralist,
u ntil Captain Duperrey’s expedition in the French sun^eying corvette the CoquiUe, in 1822,
when he was accompanied by a young officer of great promise, and an ardent collector of plants, the
late Admiral D’Urville. This officer revisited New Zealand in 1827, in the same ship (re-named the
* This herbaiium and MS. form part of the Banksian collection, and are deposited in the British Museum. I
feel that I cannot over-estimate the benefit which I have derived from these materials, and it is much to be regretted
that they were not duly consulted by my predecessors. The names by which Dr. Solander designated the
speeies have been in most cases replaced by others, often applied with far less judgment, and^his descriptions have
never been surpassed for fulness, terseness, and accuracy. The total number of drawings of New Zealand plants is
about a ia. of which 176 are engraved on copper, hut the engravings have never been published; these treasures
are accompanied with 34 additioiml copper-plates from Forster’s drawings, of plants which were not found during
Cook’s first voyage.
t This was presented by the late Mr. Shepherd, of Liverpool, and formed part of what I believe is a very-
complete collection of Forster’s plants, I have to add with regret that the trustees of the institution to which ffie
latter-belongs considered it inexpedient to accede to my request that it should he transmitted temporarily to Kew
for comparison and publication.
X Solanum aviculare, Coriaria sarnientom. Convolvulus chrysorUzus (cult.), Bioscorea alata (cult.), Arum escu^
lenium (cult.), A. macro7'ldzon (cult.), ConhjVme indivisa, Areca sapida, Apium graveolens, Tetragoni^ expansa, Lepi-
dium oleraceuni, Sonchus oleraceiis, Pteris esculenta, CyatJiea mednllaris, Gleichenia sp. {Folypodmm dickotGmum),
L&ptospermmi scoparium, Bacrydium cupresshmyn. It is in this work that the Avicennia tomentosa is described as
A. resinifera, with the statement recorded by Crozet of its producing a gum which is eaten by the natives, which no
doubt originated in some mistake.
b 2