il FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 
adopt widely different conclusions as to their limits and origin, from one who regards them as distinct 
creations ; and he who denies that a plant which grows spontaneously in England and New Zealand 
can have originated from one common parent, will reason differently on the subject of migration and 
dispersion from him who holds an opposite view. Now the actual amount of knowledge we possess 
on such subjects is so very limited, that few experienced naturalists are inclined to pronounce posi- 
tively upon them, whilst the majority offer no opinion at all. I am very sensible of my own inability 
to grapple with these great questions, of the extreme caution and judgment required in their treat- 
ment, and of the experience necessary to enable an observer to estimate the importance of characters 
whose value varies with every organ and in every order of plants. I think, however, that there is 
a mean to be kept between the dogmatism with which a large class of naturalists (generally of very 
limited experience) decide upon species, and the vagueness which characterizes the writings of others 
in all that refers to them; this, and the fact that most persons commence botany without any defi- 
nite idea of what meaning naturalists attach to the term, or of its importance, have also induced me 
to address some cautions to the student, suggested by those theoretical principles which the study of 
the New Zealand Flora may help to develope. This I propose to do under three heads or chapters, 
which will be devoted—1. To the history of New Zealand Botany, showing the labours of my pre- 
decessors, the nature and amount of the materials that have been available to myself, and the pro- 
bable limits of the New Zealand Flora.—2. To the views I have adopted in the descriptive part as to 
the affinities, limits, origin, variation, distribution, and dispersion of plants generally.—3. To the 
illustration and development of these views by an analysis of the New Zealand Flora, and its relation 
to those of other countries. 
CHAPTER I. 
SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF THE BOTANY OF NEW ZEALAND. 
Fon the earliest account of the plants of these Islands we are indebted to two of the most illus- 
trious botanists of their age, and to the voyages of the greatest of modern navigators ; for the first, 
and to this day the finest and best illustrated herbarium that has ever been made in the islands by 
individual exertions is that of Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander, during Captain Cook's first voyage 
in 1769. Upwards of 360 species of plants were collected during the five months that were devoted 
to the exploration of these coasts, at various points between the Bay of Islands and Otago, including 
the shores of Cook's Straits; and the results are admirable, whether we consider the excellence of the 
specimens, the judgment with which they were selected, the artistic drawings by which they are il- 
lustrated, and above all the aecurate MS. descriptions and observations that accompany them. That 
the latter, which include a complete Flora of New Zealand as far as then known, systematically ar- 
ranged, illustrated by two hundred copper-plate engravings, and all ready for the press, should have 
been withheld from publication by its illustrious authors, is (considering the circumstances under 
