Cine — On Naturalized Plants of Auckland District. = 
remote and apparently inaccessible though it may be, into which some of 
these species of northern origin have not found their way, and thrust out a 
portion of the original possessors of the soil. 
No part of New Zealand is better suited for studying this ** replacement 
of species "—as it is aptly termed by Sir Joseph Hooker—than the dis- 
trict of Auckland. Possibly in portions of the Canterbury Plains the des- 
truction of the native plants and the estabishment of foreign ones in their 
place may be more complete over large continuous areas than anywhere in 
Auckland ; but this is a consequence of extensive cultivation, coupled with 
sameness of physical conditions, and the number of species naturalized is 
comparatively small. The mildness of the northern climate, warm and 
moist without being too hot, is not only favourable to the common weeds of 
Northern and Central Europe, some of which exhibit a luxuriance rarely 
seen in their native country, but allows many plants from warmer climes to 
become naturalized by their side, so that the total number of species intro- 
duced is large indeed. To mention one instance,—the little County of 
Eden, which includes simply the Auckland Isthmus, and cannot have a 
greater area than about 25,000 or 30,000 acres, supports nearly 850 natu- 
ralized plants, all of spontaneous origin, and maintaining themselves 
without direct assistance from man; or, as in most cases it would be 
more correct to say, in spite of his efforts to destroy them. This is a 
number almost identical with that of the indigenous species of Phenogams 
found in the same area. 
The only attempt hitherto made to catalogue the naturalized plants of 
Auckland is that of Mr. Kirk, in the Transactions of the New Zealand 
Institute, vol. ii. In a valuable paper, entitled ** On the Naturalized 
Plants of New Zealand” (but which deals solely with those of Auckland), 
he enumerates 292 species. From this number, however, it appears to me 
that 31 must be struck out, either as being indigenous, or incorrectly intro- 
duced by previous writers on New Zealand botany, or as being now extinet. 
This would leave 261 as truly naturalized. Iu some subsequent papers Mr. 
Kirk adds a few additional species, raising the number to 283. In the ap- 
pended catalogue I give the names of 387 species, with particulars of their 
distribution ; 104 being recorded for the first time. I have taken some 
little trouble in collecting statistics respecting these 387 species, and it will be 
useful to give a brief abstract before proceeding to discuss why it is that so 
large a number of foreign plants have been able to establish themselves here 
and why they should have such an apparent advantage over the native flora. 
First as to their origin. Naturalized plants as a rule have wide ranges, 
and are often found in an indigenous condition (so far as we can judge) over 
half a continent or more. Whether this is due to naturalizatiou at a remote 
