28 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



affinities to the fossil Lycopodiaceae of the coal period, than 

 any other existing plants* " ; but this opinion cannot justify the 

 extraordinary statement seen at times in the books of popular 

 writers, that the New Zealand flora is more like that of the 

 Carboniferous than is any other existing flora. As a matter of 

 fact, our species of ferns and lycopods do not show affinities that 

 tend to prove them older than the ferns and lycopods of other 

 lands. Further, the evidence of the flowering plants does not 

 suggest that those of New Zealand are of any high degree of 

 antiquity. Many ancient forms, that once existed in New Zea- 

 land, and still exist in other lands, have been replaced here by 

 plants of a more modern type. One of the oldest orders of the 

 phanerogams is the Cycadeae. We have now no cycads 

 in New Zealand, though fossils show that they formerly 

 existed here. Changes of climate may have driven them out. 

 At one time they formed a considerable portion of the 

 vegetation of the globe, and they are still found in 

 large numbers in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of both 

 hemispheres. Turning to the Monocotyledons, we obtain 

 somewhat similar evidence. These plants are generally 

 supposed to be older than the Dicotyledons, though the testi- 

 mony of the rocks on this point is by no means indisputable. 

 They are, however, assuredly extremely old, and if our flora 

 were exceptionally ancient, we might expect them to be well 

 developed in New Zealand. The contrary, however, is the 

 case. Throughout the southern hemisphere the monocoty- 

 ledons are more poorly represented than in the northern. 

 Again, the facts of fossil botany seem to show that the palms are 

 one of the oldest orders of monocotyledons. In New Zealand 

 we have only one species of palm-tree. This paucity of 

 forms may perhaps be due to climatic or similar conditions. 

 In the tropics they are plentiful. On the other hand, it is 

 to be admitted that we have an ancient monocotyledon in 

 the cabbage-tree (Cordyline) . 



*" Handbook of the New Zealand Flora," (p. 387). 



