68 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Cheeseman, its discoverer, to Cardamine and later to Nasturthmi 

 [N. latesiliqua), which he thinks will probably, with others, form 

 a distinct genus ; he modestly, however, refrains from estabHshing 

 this on the ground that before doing so it would be necessary to 

 compare the whole of the genera of the ArubidecB, " a work which 

 can hardly be properly carried out without access to the large 

 public herbaria and libraries of Europe." If such restraint were 

 more generally exercised — and that not only in the colonies — the 

 aggregate of new species published in a given year would be as 

 much lower as their value would be higher. Lepidium oleracetim, 

 which proved of such value as an anti-scorbutic to the crews under 

 Cook and later under Forster, can hardly be said to be a plentiful 

 species at the present time, and Mr. Cheeseman knows of few 

 localities where " boat-loads," as remarked by Cook, could be 

 collected. Another Lejyidiuui (L. sisymhrioides) is remarkable for 

 its stout cylindrical root, sometimes quite 4 ft. in length and as 

 thick as the finger, its size seeming altogether out of proportion 

 to the short stems ; with this Dr. Thellung unites two other species, 

 but " no New Zealand botanist familiar with their appearance in 

 the field will agree with this view." 



Mr. Cheeseman's reluctance to differentiate genera is equalled 

 by his unwillingness to add to synonymy ; he points out that 

 Aristotelia racemosa must take the earliest specific name bestowed 

 upon it by the Forsters, but says, " I hesitate to make a change 

 which will inevitably cause much confusion and from which little 

 advantage can be derived." The change, however, will have to 

 be made and might as well have been done now^ ; the same may 

 be said as to Angelica montana (t. 68). 



Under Geranium Traversii, a plant of the Chatham Islands 

 which has not yet been collected on any part of the mainland, is an 

 interesting note : " It is a remarkable fact that not less than 80 

 species of flowering plants are confined to the Chatham Islands, 

 the total flora of which, including both the phanerogams and 

 vascular cryptogams, does not exceed 220 species. The percentage 

 of endemic species is thus rather over 14 per cent. A ratio so 

 large as this cannot be said to offer much support to the theory so 

 often advanced of the connection of the islands in New Zealand 

 during Pliocene times." 



Among Maori food-plants of special interest may be named 

 the "Hinau " {Elcsocarjms dentatus) and " Karaka " (Coryiiocaijms 

 Icevigata) — the latter, which is structurally also of great botanical 

 interest, of prime importance before the arrival of Europeans. The 

 preparation of these is described. The juicy berries of Coriaria 

 ruscifolia (" Tutu "), notwithstanding the poisonous properties of 

 the plant, yield a pleasant beverage : Mr. Cheeseman describes 

 finding almost half the population of one of the islands engaged 

 in collecting the berries and straining the juice. 



In the Umbelliferge, which are largely represented, the remark- 

 able genus Aciphylla is represented by three species, a fourth 

 {A. Dieffenhachii) having lately been raised by Mr. Cheeseman to 

 generic rank, as Coxella. 



