NEW ZEALAND PLANTS 



AND THEIR STORY. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE GENERAL HISTORY OF THE PLANTS. 



The New Zealand biological region Special botanical inteiest of Xew Zealand 



Origin of the flora Australian and South American connections A bridge 



to South America South American worms, spiders, and fishes South 



American plants The struggle for existence Grass land versus forest The 



kowhai of Chatham Island Rival theories of evolution Plant societies. 



LYING isolated from neighbouring land-masses far out in the broad 

 Pacific, New Zealand offered conditions for plant-life different from 

 those of most other regions. Its area, greater by far than, that of any 

 oceanic group of islands, is sufficient to have allowed the development of 

 a rich vegetation made up of many species. The land of the " Maori 

 and Moa," as a poet has called our land, has long been famous from 

 both the ethnological and zoological standpoints. The remarkable 

 race of aborigines, with their interesting manners and customs, is 

 known far and wide. Scientific men the world over, and many of 

 the general public, for that matter, have an acquaintance more or 

 less intimate with the giant birds of a former age. and their fast- 

 vanishing relatives, the kiwis of to-day. 



But when it comes to the question of the plant-life there is a pause. 

 To be sure, New Zealand is known as the land of ferns, and not with- 

 out truth ; yet this admired group is found nearly all the world over, 

 and is really much less important than are plenty of the other in- 

 digenous plants. Many members of our flora, indeed, are .specially 

 noteworthy, and there is little doubt but that, as a whole, the plants 



