Cheeseman. — On the Genus Coprosma. 219 



The first species of Coprosma were collected in 1769 by 

 Banks and Solauder, during Cook's first voyage. Specimens of 

 six species were brought home to England, and are now pre- 

 served in the Banksian Herbarium in the British Museum, In 

 the manuscript account of the plants of New Zealand, drawn 

 up by Dr. Solander, but which, for some unexplained reason 

 was never published, although made quite ready for the press, 

 even to the preparation of the engravings, the name Pelaphia 

 was proposed for the genus ; and the species were also fully and 

 clearly described. However, as Dr. Solander's names were 

 never actually published, they can have no standing in botanical 

 works. 



During Cook's second visit to New Zealand, in 1772, he was 

 accompanied by Forster, the well-known naturalist. Plants 

 were collected at Queen Charlotte Sound and Dusky Bay, and 

 many of them were subsequently described by Forster in his 

 " Prodromus." The term Coprosma was now for the first time 

 applied to the genus, and two species described — C. lucida and 

 C. fcetidissima. For many years these remained the only species 

 actually published fi-om New Zealand. 



Nothing more was added to our knowledge of Coprosma until 

 Allan Cunningham made his two visits to New Zealand in 1826 

 and 1838. In his "Precursor to a Flora of New Zealand," 

 which contains the results of these journeys, ten species are 

 enumerated. Three of these are mere synonyms ; and two 

 more were already known. The remaining five are good and 

 distinct forms. Cunningham's descriptions, however, are 

 extremely imperfect, and in many respects faulty and mis- 

 leading. The types of his species are now preserved at Kew ; 

 but, according to Sir Joseph Hooker, (" Handbook," p. Ill,) the 

 si^ecimens have been much intermixed by himself. 



In 1846, M. Eaoul published in his " Choix de Plantes de la 

 Nouvelle Zelande," a description of Coprot>ma robusta, perhaps 

 the most widely distributed of all our species, but which seems 

 to have been confounded with C. lucida by previous botanists. 

 About the same time Mr. Colenso contributed to the Tasmanian 

 " Journal of Natural Science " a paper entitled " A Tour in New 

 Zealand," in which several additional species were made known. 

 This was afterwards reprinted in Hooker's " Journal of Botany ;" 

 but, unfortunately, I have been unable to obtain a copy. I 

 much regret this, as it is possible that some of Mr. Colenso's 

 species may be identical with some of those described by later 

 writers ; and, if so, his names should take precedence. 



Hooker's "Flora Antarctica," which appeared in 1845, con- 

 tains an account of the Coprosma collected by the author in the 

 Auckland and Campbell Isles in 1840. Seven species were 

 enumerated, six of which were considered to be new. But of 

 these C. affinis has since been referred by its author to C. 



