PREFACE. 
TWELVE years ago, when the New Zealand Government was pleased to 
entrust me with the preparation of the “ Manual of the New Zealand Flora,” 
the first outline of the limits of the projected work provided for an atlas 
of plates to illustrate species described therein. It soon became obvious, 
however, that the attempt to publish both works simultaneously would 
much delay the appearance of the Manual; and it was finally decided that 
the publication of the plates should stand over until the more important 
work of providing a descriptive account of the plants of the Dominion had 
been completed. 
After the appearance of the Manual in 1906 the proposal to provide 
a series of illustrations was revived, and early in 1907 I was asked by 
the Department of Education to furnish my views on the subject. Prior 
to that, however, many suggestions had been made as to the nature of the 
illustrations to be adopted, and it may be useful to mention the chief of 
these. In the first place, it was suggested that arrangements might be 
made for the reproduction, on a reduced scale, of the elaborate folio plates 
engraved to accompany the descriptions drawn up by Dr. Solander of the 
plants collected during Cook’s first visit to New Zealand in 1769, but 
which were never actually published; and I understand that the Trustees 
of the British Museum, as custodians of the plates, were willing to grant 
the necessary permission. But against this proposal it was at once objected 
that such a series of plates would give a very incomplete representation 
of the flora of the Dominion, seeing that the plants collected by Cook were 
obtained in a few localities on the coast-line of the North Island or in 
the extreme north of the South Island, and did not include any examples 
of the mountain or alpine flora, or of the plants restricted to the southern 
portions of the Dominion. Furthermore, it was represented that the plates 
themselves, although accurate, and undoubtedly of great historic value, 
were of somewhat antiquated style, and were deficient in the microscopic 
analyses now considered essential in all really good botanical drawings. 
A second suggestion was that the many beautiful plates contained in Sir 
J. D. Hooker’s “Flora Nove Zelandiz” and “Flora Antarctica” should be 
reproduced by photo-lithography, and that to those might be added numer- 
ous plates of New Zealand plants contained in the “ Botanical Magazine ” 
and “Icones Plantarum.” While no objection could be urged against the 
style and character of these plates, there still remained the fact that they 
would not constitute an all-round representation of the plants of the 
Dominion, seeing that they also contained very few examples of the peculiar 
montane and alpine flora, and that even many important lowland genera 
were not adequately represented, as, for instance, the genus Coprosma. A 
third view, which I believe was held by most New Zealand botanists, was 
that the plates should be new ones, or, in other words, should be specially 
drawn for the work. : 
My own views on the subject, as presented to the Education Depart- 
ment, and, with some slight modification, finally accepted by it, may be 
given here, as they explain the reasons for the plan of the work, the 
selection and style of the plates, and the character of the letterpress. I 
