GENERAL INTRODUCTION 33 



The New Zealand bush is generally an impenetrable jungle, 

 while throughout a great part of Australia 



" The land lies desolate and stripped ; 

 Across its waste has thinly strayed 

 A tattered host of eucalypt, 

 From whose gaunt uniform is made, 

 A ragged penury of shade." 



A mixed bush, somewhat similar to that of New Zealand, is 

 however, found in the wetter regions of 8outh-Eastern 

 Australia. But the enigma which baffled the speculations of 

 the earlier botanists, lies in the fact that tlie most important of 

 the Australian genera are completely absent from New Zealand. 

 Hence results the lack of superficial resemblance between the 

 floras of the two countries. The gum trees, wattles, she-oaks, 

 bottle-brushes, hakeas, &c., which are so abundant in Eastern 

 Australia, are without a single representative here. It might 

 well have been expected that some of these would have found 

 means of crossing the Tasman Sea. 



It is little to be wondered at, then, that Sir Joseph Hooker 

 should have found it difficult to theorize concerning the relation- 

 ships of the two .floras. Yet he seems scarcely to have realised 

 sufficiently that the differences of climate, surface, and geological 

 conditions existing between the two countries, are such, 

 that similar plant associations could not be expected to occur in 

 each. It must, however, be admitted that these differences in 

 themselves do not constitute a sufficient explanation of the 

 absence from New Zealand of the characteristic Australian 

 species and genera. The gum trees, wattles, hakeas, and she- 

 oaks, flourish as well here as in their native land ; and some of 

 these at least can and do maintain themselves without artificial 

 aid in our islands. Of course they have been much assisted in 

 gaining a foothold here by the presence of clearings effected 

 by civilized man. Yet, their complete absence from New 

 Zealand, before the arrival of the European, can be 

 explained only on the assumption that they never before 

 obtained an opportunity of establishing themselves here. As 



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