INTRODUCTION TO THE REPORTS ON INSULAR FLORAS. 23 



New Zealand. 



At least a quarter of the New Zealand Coinpositae are shrubby or arboreous, and these 

 all belong to the Asteroideae and Senecionideae. In Hooker's Handbook of the New 

 Zealand Flora, fourteen species are described as trees, namely, Olearia (Eurybia), 11 

 species ; Senecio, 2 ; and B rack y glottis, 1. Besides these, one species of Cassinia is said 

 to grow fifteen, and another ten feet high. These numbers do not include the Chatham 

 Islands species referred to above, as they were unknown at the date of the Handbook. 

 Dimensions of only a few are given in the descriptions ; but Olearia dentata, Olearia 

 cunninghami, and Brachy glottis repanda, are all credited with a height of twenty feet. 

 Further, Mr D. Petrie (Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, xiii. p. 327) describes 

 Olearia colensoi as attaining the dimensions of a tree, often having a stem as much as a 

 foot in diameter. In the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, i. p. 35, we find the 

 following dimensions of arboreous and subarboreous Compositae, as they grow in the 

 neighbourhood of Otago, contributed by Mr J. Buchanan : Olearia operina, trunk six to 

 eight inches in diameter ; Olearia nitida, twelve to eighteen inches in diameter ; Olearia 

 dentata, two to three feet in diameter ; and Olearia ilicifolia, similar to the last. The 

 measurements of Olearia dentata especially, indicate a tree of considerable size. Mr 

 Bentham (loc. cit., p. 568) remarks of the New Zealand Compositae that "some of the 

 genera present highly developed shrubby species, but none so arborescent as in some 

 of the preceding more perfectly isolated island groups ; " yet the dimensions we are able 

 to give of a small proportion of the arboreous species equal at least, if they do not exceed, 

 those of the largest in St Helena, Juan Fernandez, &c. New Zealand may be regarded as 

 intermediate in physical conditions between those remote islands and continental areas, 

 though still possessing more of the character of the former than the latter. 



Madagascar. 



Madagascar is still less insular in character than New Zealand, being both larger 

 and much nearer to a continent ; yet shrubby and arboreous Conqwsitae abound, some 

 of the largest in the world inhabiting this country. During the last few years our 

 knowledge of the Madagascar flora has been considerably increased .by the publication of 

 numerous new plants by Dr Baillon in France, and also by Mr J. Gr. Baker in 

 England. Mr Baker informs us that the novelties include at least forty shrubby and 

 arboreous Compositae, and that about half of the Compositae of the country are woody. 

 It will be sufficient for our purpose to give a few examples of the truly arboreous species. 

 Thus, Synchodendron ramiflorum (Inuloideae) grows at least forty feet high, and Vemonia 

 fuscopilosa (Vernoniaceae) is described as a tree thirty to forty feet high, while several 

 other species of the latter genus are designated trees without any dimensions being given. 



