448 DICOTYLEDONS AND CONIFERS 



SOLANACE^ 

 Lycopersicum esculentum, Mill. Tomato 



I do not know how early this was first introduced, but it is 

 recorded as a naturalised species by Hooker in 1864, and again in 

 Auckland Province by Kirk in 1869. The latter speaks of it in 1870 

 as abundantly naturalised in many localities in the Waikato. Cheese- 

 man (1882) calls it a garden escape of short duration. 



Solanum marginatum, Linn. 



First recorded by Cheeseman in 1882 who writes: "A garden out- 

 cast near Auckland. A large clump existed for many years in Alten 

 Road, but is now nearly destroyed." Apparently it has not spread. 



Solanum sodomceum, Linn. Dead-sea Apple 



First recorded by Cheeseman in 1882 as common on the volcanic 

 hills of the Auckland Isthmus, etc., and also noticed at Mongonui, 

 Bay of Islands, and in the Waikato. In the Manual (1906) it is 

 reported to occur from the North Cape to the Waikato, as not un- 

 common on warm dry soils and on sand-dunes. 



Solanum auriculatum, Ait. 



First recorded in 1882 by Cheeseman from the neighbourhood 

 of Auckland, and from Mahurangi. In the Manual (1906) he states 

 that it is increasing in waste places in the vicinity of Auckland. Carse 

 in 1915 reports it from near Kaitaia in Mongonui County. 



Solanum tuberosum, Linn. Potato 



It is probable that potatoes were first planted at Dusky Sound 

 when Captain Cook anchored there early in 1773, for a piece of 

 ground was cleared and left as a garden. Geo. Forster, in his Journal 

 of the voyage of the ' Resolution,' says: 



We re-embarked all our instruments and utensils, and left no other 

 vestiges of our residence than a piece of ground, from whence we had 

 cleared the weeds. We sowed indeed a quantity of European garden seeds 

 of the best kinds ; but it is obvious that the shoots of the surrounding weeds 

 will shortly stifle every salutary and useful plant, and that in a few years 

 our abode, no longer discernible, must return to its original chaotic state. 



When the 'Adventure' arrived in Queen Charlotte Sound early 

 in the same year, Captain Furneaux cleared a spot at the pah 

 (or "Hippah," as he calls it), at the S.W. point of Motuara and 

 made a garden, planting potatoes among other things. The natives 



