Cheeseman. — On Naturalized Plants of Auckland District. 269 



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 Euroi^e, 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 350 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 Phasnogams 

 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 extinct. 

 This would leave 261 as truly naturalized. In 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 



