Kibe. — On the Botany of the East Cape District. 509 



•• Leafy when in flower. 

 Prostrate. Branchlets compressed. Pods 1- 



seeded . . . . . . . . . . 4. fi". pro?ia. 



4. NoTOSPARTiuM, Hook. f. 



Branchlets drooping. Pods 3-5-seeded, crowded, 



straight . . . . . . . . . . 1. N. carmichaelice. 



Branchlets flexuous or pendulous. Pods 3-10- 



seeded, curved, distant .. .. ..2. N. torulosum. 



In conclusion, I venture to urge the advisability of students 

 of the genus obtaining flowering and fruiting examples from 

 the same plant before attempting to identify their specimens, 

 and of observing the species over as wide an area as possible. 

 It would be of the greatest benefit if many of the species could 

 be raised from seed, so that the young plant could be ob- 

 served from the seedling state, and the period of leaf duration 

 exactly determined. 



Art. XLVIII. — Notes on the Botany of the East Cape 



District. 



Bv T. Kirk, F.L.S. 



\_Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 17th February, ISy?.} 



On the 8th October, 1769, Banks and Solander, the first 

 naturalists who visited New Zealand, landed at Poverty Bay, 

 and collected numerous interesting plants not previously 

 beheld by Europeans. They subsequently visited other locali- 

 ties in the Bast Cape district, and made good collections of the 

 lowland species. It is, however, not a little remarkable that, 

 nearly a hundred and thirty years after the district was visited 

 by these botanists, we should have no systematic account of 

 its flora and possess but a scanty acquaintance with its botani- 

 cal riches. Until the settlement of Poverty Bay and Opotiki, 

 however, the district was remarkably difiicult of access, and 

 could only be visited by taking passage in a small trading 

 cutter. Upon landing the traveller had to rely wholly upon 

 the hospitality and guidance of the Maoris. Even now roads 

 are few and bad, while only a small portion of the district has 

 been opened up in any way. Large steamers make regular 

 trips between Gisborne and other ports, and small coasting- 

 steamers occasionally touch at various bays between Gisborne 

 and Opotiki. Still, as already intimated, a large portion of 

 the district is in a state of nature, although the area of un- 

 settled land is being reduced yearly. 



