Kirk. — On the Nativity in N.Z. of Polygonum aviculare, L. 317 



Mr. Travers wish it to be understood that the extreme number I have 

 given (Dr. Hooker states " upwards of 360 ") comprises all the plants actually 

 seen by Banks and Solander in these varied and distant localities % If so I am 

 sure that no botanist possessing a detailed knowledge of the distribution of 

 New Zealand plants will be found to agree with him. From personal 

 knowledge of three of the localities visited by them I can state that a larger 

 number of species might be collected in each during a single week than 

 appears to have been recorded by them as obtained during the whole time 

 spent on the coast of New Zealand, notwithstanding that some of the species 

 which were common in 1772 are now comparatively rare. Making every 

 allowance for the limited extent of their excursions into the interior, and 

 guided by the preserved statements of the localities visited, and what we know 

 of the nature of the habitats from the plants actually recorded as having been 

 first observed by them, there can be no doubt that a minimum number of 600 

 species might have been collected by botanists in their position. Assuming, 

 however, a much lower estimate, say 500 sjDecies, how very natural that so 

 common and unattractive a plant as the knot-grass should have been one of 

 those omitted. 



In the comparatively small amount of attention which was paid to common 

 and well known plants a century or even half a century ago by botanists in a 

 similar position to Banks and Solander, and in the restricted facilities then 

 to be obtained for preserving plants on board ship, may be found fully 

 sufficient reason for no mention being made of so common a plant as the 

 knot-grass, or for no specimen of it having been preserved. 



And not to mention the omission of certain endemic plants, common in 

 several of the localities visited by them, I might say amongst the commonest, 

 this view of the case is confirmed by the fact that other plants common to the 

 British Islands and New Zealand are omitted from their collections, although 

 no botanist wonld for a moment imagine on that account that they were not 

 observed. Juncus maritimus is abundant all round the coasts of New 

 Zealand, it is especially plentiful at the Bay of Islands, Thames River, 

 Mercury Bay, Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay, and Queen Charlotte Sound — all 

 localities visited by the first expedition, and at some of which a protracted 

 stay was made — yet no mention is made of it, although it could not possibly 

 have escaped observation. Juncus hufonius appears to have escaped record by 

 all botanists down to the time of Sinclair and Colenso, and affords in many 

 respects a close j)arallel to its frequent associate the knot-grass ; it occurs 

 throughout the islands in dry and moist places, is especially abundant by road 

 sides, although rarely absent from swampy places ; in neglected cultivations it 

 sometimes exhibits great luxuriance, and ascends the Southern Alps to a 

 considerable altitude. In the northern part of the colony, and probably 



