6 
therefore purposely avoided all matter published in the Manual. In draw- 
ing up the letterpress I have thought it desirable to mention the facts 
connected with the first discovery of the plant under treatment. Not only 
is this of value in tracing the history and identity of the type, but it 
will also serve to draw attention to those pioneers of botanical exploration 
to whom our first knowledge of the flora is due, and to whom sufficient 
credit has never been given. In these days, when it is an easy matter to 
travel the whole length and breadth of the Dominion, we are apt to lose 
sight of the fact that expeditions like that of the two Cunninghams in 
1826-38; of Bidwill and Dieffenbach in 1839-41; of Colenso from 1834 
onwards; and even the earlier explorations of Sir Julius von Haast, Sir 
James Hector, and others into the recesses of the mountains of the South 
Island, were all accompanied by much privation and great personal danger. 
Allan Cunningham’s premature death is attributed by his biographer to 
the effects of “twenty-five years of unwearied exertion and laborious travel”; 
and we all know that one of the foremost of the early botanists, Dr. A. 
Sinclair, lost his lfe while exploring the alpine vegetation of the South 
Island. 
I have thought it advisable to indicate the distribution within the 
Dominion of each of the species figured, so far as it is known at present; 
and in all non-endemic genera I have also attempted to point out the 
geographical range of each genus outside New Zealand. TI have also alluded 
to any economic value which the plant may possess, and I have endeavoured 
to mention any uses to which the Maoris may have applied it, or any 
traditions which they may have had concerning it. Lastly, I have.attempted 
to describe any facts of scientific interest, whether ecological, morphological, 
or systematic, which appeared to concern the plants under consideration. 
And as the letterpress is not intended to form a series of monographs of 
the species figured, but rather to act an indication of the salient points 
in their history, I have endeavoured to avoid all unnecessary detail or 
useless verbiage. 
The number of New Zealand plants that have been figured in other 
publications prior to the appearance of this work is far larger than is 
commonly supposed, and a list of them, even if not absolutely complete, 
cannot fail to be of use to the student. I have therefore prepared as 
full a catalogue as the material at my disposal will permit. It includes 
references to approximately 1,640 drawings of 947 species. Although a 
proportion of these are of old date, and are more or less imperfectly 
executed (as, for instance, Forster’s plates in his “ Characteres Generum ”), 
they usually have some historical or bibliographical value, especially in 
those cases where they represent the type of the species. The sumptuous 
folio volumes prepared to illustrate the French voyages of discovery, 
especially those relating to the “Voyage of the Astrolabe” and the sub- 
sequently published “Voyage au Pole Sud,” together with Raoul’s “ Choix 
des Plantes,” contain a large number of beautifully executed plates, some 
of them being exquisite works of art. But by far the most valuable illus- 
trations of New Zealand plants yet issued are those prepared under the 
auspices of the two Hookers. We have to thank Sir W. J. Hooker for 
many plates in the earlier volumes of the “ Icones Plantarum,” the “ Botanical 
Magazine,” and the “London Journal of Botany,” to say nothing of the 
numerous drawings of ferns given in the “Species Filicum,” “Exotic 
Ferns,” &c. The debt due to his son and successor, Sir J. D. Hooker, is 
better known, for most colonial botanists are acquainted with the beautiful 
illustrations contained in the six volumes of the “Flora Nove Zelandie,” 
the “Flora Antarctica,” and the “Flora of Tasmania.” The attempts made 
