THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 93 



Plants of New Zealand. By R. M. Laing, B.Sc, and E. VV. 

 Blackwell. Christchurch ; VVhitcombe and Tombs. 456 



pp. 15s- 

 The authors of this highly interesting book are to be envied in 

 having such a remarkable series of plants to describe as that of 

 New Zealand, and the pubUshers are to be congratulated on the 

 handsome volume they have ^produced. New Zealand, as is 

 generally known, has a flora possessing many almost unique 

 features, and bearing but few relationships to neighbouring lands. 

 Indeed, in the few genera which are represented both in Australia 

 and New Zealand, the individual species are in most cases so 

 different as to quite bewilder the botanist familiar with the 

 plants of either country. Its relationship seems closer with the 

 sub-antarctic islands, and even with South America, though at a 

 much greater distance than Australia. The work under notice 

 does not pretend to be a complete flora of New Zealand, but 

 rather a popular book to call attention to the more prominent 

 flowering plants (including, of course, trees and shrubs), with such 

 other plants as may possess some remarkable feature. The 

 volume has been written in the light of the most recent biological 

 research, and in consequence the familiar systematic arrangement 

 of Bentham.and Hooker has been abandoned for that of Engler, 

 who commences with the lowest forms and works up to the 

 highest — in this case from the Gymnosperms, represented by the 

 pines, to the Composites, as being the most highly specialized 

 family in the vegetable kingdom. In order to familiarize the 

 student with the subject, an introduction of some fifty pages 

 deals in sections with the different associations of plant life, such 

 as whether in open country, bush, forest, or mountain, the age 

 and affinities of the flora, and a rapid glance at the parts and 

 life-history of a plant. Some 380 pages are then devoted to the 

 different orders, and the more important genera and species are 

 fully described, and in many cases illustrated. The illustrations 

 themselves are a feature of the volume, and, all being from photo- 

 graphs, are absolutely correct. They number about 160, and 

 where not of the actual size of the specimen the proportionate 

 size is given, so that no false impression can be formed by the 

 student as is often the case. As white and light tints prevail in 

 New Zealand flowers, the dark background chosen for most of 

 the plates set off the flowers to unusual advantage, and many, 

 such as our well-known form, Leptosperrmim scoparium — Manuka 

 in New Zealand — Pterostylis longifolia, or Clematis indivisa, are 

 striking pictures. In dealing with the various families the authors 

 give the more important plants in the same family in other parts 

 of the world, especially those of economic value, and in conse- 

 quence an impression of the relationship is quickly fixed on the 

 mind. Great stress is everywhere laid on biological facts, such as 



