314 Transactions. — Botany. 



favourite flowers and to get them to grow as wild flowers 

 always end in failure? This aspect of the subject has re- 

 ceived but little attention hitherto, yet it is an extremely 

 interesting point of view from which to consider it. 



"When we speak of plant acclimatisation, or, more cor- 

 rectly, naturalisation, in New Zealand we mean within his- 

 toric times. Probably the ancestral forms of all existing 

 species of plants in the country were introduced at one time 

 or another from adjacent lands, as the relationship of our 

 indigenous flora with that of Australia, of the antarctic 

 region, of Polynesia, of South America, and of Eur-Asia is 

 more or less distinctly traceable. But though we may m 

 some cases almost infer the comparative age of some of our 

 species from finding identical or slightly different forms in 

 adjacent countries, we cannot arrive at any definite informa- 

 tion on the subject. Very little is yet known about the fossil 

 flora of these Islands, and until this has been studied very 

 little light can be thrown on the origin of our flora. When, 

 however, we limit our investigations to the species introduced 

 within the epoch comprised within such times as the Islands 

 have been known to Europeans we have in many cases per- 

 fectly definite information, and in regard to all have a certain 

 amount of sure knowledge. A few plants were certainly in- 

 troduced by the Maoris from the South Sea Islands — e.g., the 

 kumara (Ipomoea chrysorrhiza), the taro (Calocasia anti- 

 quorum), and the hue or gourd (Cucurbita sp.) — but these 

 occur only on the site of former native settlements, and 

 show no tendency to spread, and barely even to hold their 

 ground. 



The Bev. Eichard Taylor, in " Te Ika a Maui," speaking 

 of the occurrence of Clianthus piunicetis in the neighbourhood 

 of native pas, tells a story which was related to him about 

 the reputed introduction of this plant. A French vessel was 

 captured in the Bay of Islands, and many of the boxes were 

 emptied on a small island in the Kerikeri Eiver, and were 

 found to contain nothing but seeds. A few years later the 

 whole island was covered with Clianthus, the beauty of its- 

 flowers attracted attention, and the seeds were carried about 

 to all parts by the natives. Taylor, who was an unscientific 

 man, thinks there is some probability in the story. But 

 species do not arise in this sudden manner from nowhere in 

 particular. There are only two species of Clianthus — an 

 Australian species (C. dampierii), known as Sturt's " desert 

 pea," and the New Zealand C. puniceus. Their unique form? 

 and difference from all other genera of Legummosa point to 

 considerable antiquity for the genus, and their diversity of 

 detail from one another to a considerable age also for the 

 species. The probability is that our species would either 



