PREFACE. 



THIS MANUAL is reproduced from the folio work on the GRASSES OF 

 NEW ZEALAND, the preparation of which was ordered by the New 

 Zealand Government in consequence of a resolution adopted by the 

 House of Representatives on 2Qth June, 1876, on the motion of 

 SIR GEORGE GREY, K.C.B., to the effect that a work on the Native 

 Grasses of the Colony should be prepared, with nature-printed plates 

 and descriptions of each species, and to be accompanied by an essay 

 on the Grasses and Forage-plants likely to prove useful in New 

 Zealand. 



In the course of the discussion relative to the resolution it was 

 urged that prizes should be offered for essays on the subject, and that 

 the best essay should be incorporated with the work ; but it was obvious 

 that the original observation and experiment required to give value to 

 such an essay could hardly be expected until the illustrated work was 

 in the hands or those who although possessing a practical knowledge 

 of the subject, might yet be unacquainted with the botanical 

 nomenclature of the Grasses. 



The preparation of the systematic portion of the proposed work 

 was, therefore, committed to this Department in January, 1877, but the 

 actual printing could not be commenced until December of the 

 same year. 



The whole of the illustrations of the large edition were drawn from 

 nature by Mr. John Buchanan, F.L.S. To insure accuracy of form, 

 the specimens of the various grasses were lightly inked, and faintly 

 impressed on the prepared surface of the lithographic stone, but the 

 details were filled in by hand, together with enlarged drawings showing 

 the anatomical characters of the inflorescence in each species from 

 original microscopic disections made by Mr. Buchanan, whose excel- 



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