THE POND-WEEDS TO THE TAXADS. is 
represented amongst New Zealand grasses, and afford an admirable 
example of the biological capabilities of a single family of plants. 
The pond-weed family (Potamogetonaceae) includes the float- 
ing pond-weeds (Potamogeton), 5 species; the sea-grass (Zostera), 
2 species; and the submerged aquatic plants of the genera Althenia 
and Zanichellia. 
The screw-pine family (Pandanaceae) has only one representative 
in New Zealand, the kiekie (Freycinetia Banksii), but it is of con- 
siderable physiognomic importance. 
The raupo family (Typhaceae) contains the genus Typha, which 
also is of high physiognomic importance, since it is the characteristic 
species of primeval swamp. 
The pine family (Pinaceae), a very extensive family in the Old 
World, and of great economic value for its timber, is represented, 
and most worthily, by the kauri (Agathis australis) and two species 
of cedar (Labocedrus Bidwillii and L. Doniana). The kauri belongs 
to a subfamily (Araucarineae), and has as near relatives the Norfolk 
Island pine (Araucaria excelsa), the monkey-puzzle of the Andes 
(A. wmbricata), a Brazilian species (A. braziliensis), the Australian 
A. Cunninghamu, and 6 New Caledonian species. Closer relatives 
still are some 6 species of Agathis itself found in Malaya, the 
Polynesian Islands, and Australia. 
The taxad family (Laxaceae) concludes this abbreviated list 
of the families of New Zealand monocotyledons. It includes the 
genera Dacrydium (7 species), Podocarpus (7 species), and Phyllocladus 
(3 species). To these families belong many of the most important 
timber-trees, some yielding wood of extreme durability. Also here 
comes one of the plant curiosities of New Zealand mentioned in 
Chapter I, Dacrydium laxifolium—the smallest pine in the world 
(fig. 3). 
The Pinaceae and Taxaceae, together with the cycads of Australia, 
South Africa, tropical America, and the unique Welwitschia mirabilis 
of South Africa, form a fundamental division of the plant kingdom, 
the gymnosperms, distinct from other seed-plants in that their seeds 
are not enclosed in a chamber (the ovary) but stand uncovered upon 
the surface of scale-like leaves. 
The seed-plants do not by any means comprise the whole of 
the New Zealand flora, nor even of those plants which stand out 
conspicuous in the landscape, for here come in the ferns. These, 
