160 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 
for ‘“‘tumatakuru.” Finally, some names have been deliberately 
coined by certain writers, including the author, where no popular 
name exists; a good many names in this book are of that kind— 
e.g., the mountain-twitch, the false snow-grass, and the pygmy pine. - 
The origin of the names of New Zealand plants is quite an interest- 
ing study in recent word-making, and is well worth investigating. 
Occasionally an English name is given a false Maori equivalent. 
Thus ‘‘tea-tree,’ an admirable name with a definite meaning, is 
oftener than not written “ ti-tree.’ Worse than this is the name 
“ Titri’? on a flag station near Waihola, on the south line from 
Dunedin. 
The Maoris, living as they did in constant touch with nature, 
possessed much more knowledge of the vegetable products of New 
Zealand than do most of their more enlightened, but im some respects 
more degenerate, white brethren. For all the more common trees and 
shrubs the Maoris had names. Unfortunately, both Maori and English 
names are used loosely, some being applied to more than one species, 
or having a different signification in different districts. “‘ Akeake ”’ is 
applied to Dodonea viscosa, Olearia Traversti, and O. avicenniaefolia. 
The silver southern-beech (Nothofagus Menziesit) is called “ brown- 
birch,” ‘‘ red-birch,’’ ‘‘ white-birch,” and “‘ silver-birch,” according 
to the part of New Zealand where the tree is growing ; nor would this 
greatly matter were it not that the above names are used equally 
loosely for other species of the genus Nothofagus. “* Koromiko”’ is 
the name for several species of Veronica; “toetoe”’ is the name 
for a large number of grass-like plants, and “ totara’”’ for the lofty 
taxad Podocarpus totara equally with the dwarf heath Lewcopogon 
Fraseri. Other instances could be given, but these will suffice. 
Further, many plants have neither a Maori nor an English name. 
From the above it may be seen that the popular names are of 
no use when it is desired to make an accurate list of even the 
seed-plants of any locality, and that names having a definite appli- 
cation must be used. For this reason the scientific names have been 
designed. 
The scientific names are in Latin. The use of Latin dates, 
of course, from the time of the Romans; but its application to 
plants, as they are now known, began in the sixteenth century, 
when modern botany was born. Latin was then the universal written 
Janguage of the learned, and the early botanical works were all written 
