FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 3 
the rudiments of the science, also of his ‘ School Botany’ and ‘Elements of Botany,’ or of 
Dr. Balfour’s * Manual; works that will afford him every facility for acquiring a thorough 
elementary knowledge- of the subject. One prominent but unavoidable drawback will 
appear common to the three latter books—their being illustrated by numerous woodcuts 
of English, and not of New Zealand plants: this objection is, however, more apparent 
than real, for a garden will supply many of the deficiencies, and the task of seeking for 
allied wild plants in lieu of the others will prove very instructive. 
It remains to say something of the plan I have followed, and to explain some common 
abbreviations which look puzzling. The arrangement is according to the Natural System. 
A Latin description of the genus is given, for the use of Botanists: the letters imme- 
diately following the generic name indicate the author who first proposed it. Of these, 
“DC.” is very common, and stands for the late A. P. De Candolle, an eminent Genevese 
Professor of Botany, who was the author of the first eight volumes of the only good general 
work on Systematic Botany which was ever carried out on the Natural System, and which 
is now being continued by his son Alphonse, and other authors. “Br.” indicates Mr. 
Robert Brown, the greatest botanist of this or any other age, and who is known wherever 
science is appreciated: he is Keeper of the Botanical Collections in the British Museum, 
and accompanied Captain Flinders's voyage of survey to Australia in 1801. “L.” or * Linn.” 
always stands for Linneus, and “Juss.” for Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, who is regarded 
as the systematizer of the Natural Orders of plants. To the Latin generic character succeeds 
a popular English description, containing only so much technical matter as shall enable the 
New Zealand student to determine to which genus his plant belongs. What accompanies 
this is intended to convey some idea of the importance of the genus, relatively to the New 
Zealand Flora, and to the Vegetable Kingdom in general; containing also general information 
concerning its distribution, the origin of its name (which frequently helps to impress it on 
the memory), and often more abstruse matter, intended only for the proficient in Botany. 
Under the Genera, the species are arranged and described, first in Latin*, with quo- 
tations of a limited number of the authors who have previously described each. Of these, 
the following are the most important. Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander visited the 
Northern Island during Cook’s first voyage, and made magnificent collections, which, with 
a series of drawings and manuscripts, are now deposited in the British Museum: they pub- 
lished no general account of their discoveries, but descriptions of many were contributed to 
various authors. The two Forsters (father and son) accompanied Cook’s second voyage, 
and the plants then collected were briefly and insufficiently described by Dr. Sparrmann, in 
a work called ‘Forster’s Prodromus. M. A. Richard published a work in Paris, from the 
materials collected during Admiral D'Urville's voyage in 1827. In 1837 the late Mr. Allan 
Cunningham (Colonial Botanist at Sydney), having visited the Bay of Islands and adjacent 
coasts (as his brother Richard had also previously done), drew up a ‘Prodromus Flore 
* Except in the case of some plants, so very common, that the botanist, for whom the Latin descriptions are 
intended, requires none. 
B 2 
