152 



(2.) in the rapid diffusion of many introduced plants, followed under certain 

 circumstances by a further displacement of indigenous forms. Contrary to 

 popular belief, there is no evidence to show that the operations of the settler 

 have entirely eradicated even a single species ; although many forms once 

 common in the district have become extremely local, and exist under widely 

 altered conditions. This conclusion is not invalidated by the absence of several 

 species, — Colobanthus Billardieri, Spergularia marina^ Plagianthus hetulinus, 

 Panax Edgerleyi, Griselinia littoralis, Loranthus tetrapetalus, Olearia alhida, 

 Celmisia longifolia, Ozothamnus glomeratus, Sapota costata, Veronica macro- 

 carpa, V. j)C(,rviflora, As2ndium coriaceum; for although on various grounds 

 they might reasonably be expected to occur in the district, they are, with one 

 or two exceptions, also absent from wide adjacent areas both to the north and 

 south. This conclusion is further supported by the fact, that notwithstanding 

 the sameness of the conditions undei which vegetation exists in this district, 

 it yet affords a larger number of indigenous species than any similar area 

 which has yet been examined.* 



Although the Flora now under consideration is that of a very limited area, 

 and has had the conditions of plant-life greatly modified, it may fairly be 

 taken as representative of the Flora of the colony, and pre-eminently 

 of that of the ISTorthern Island, excepting in both cases the alpine and 

 sub-alpme sections. More than 200 of the plants now enumerated are 

 common to the extreme north and the extreme soiith, 350 are common to 

 both islands, and rather less than 100 species are peculiar to the North Island. 

 No s]Decies is absolutely circumscribed within its limits, although several of 

 its members are extremely local. Compared with the number of Phsenogams 

 and Ferns comprised in the New Zealand Flora, its members are in the 

 proportion of 1 to 2-8 ; separately, the Phsenogams as 1 to 2-7, the Ferns and 

 Fern allies 1 to 1'7. The number of species known to occur in an indigenous 

 condition in the Province of Auckland is upwardsof 800, of which considerably 

 more than half may be collected in the immediate vicinity of its capital. 



A comparison of the Floras of the chief centres of settlement in the colony 

 would afford results at once interesting and instnictive, but the materials for 

 making a comparison of this kind have not yet been prepared. It is, however, 

 highly probable that the Flora of the immediate vicinity of "Wellington will 

 prove even more typically representative of that of the entire colony, although 

 less purely characteristic of the North Island. It may be expected to exliibit 

 a somewhat larger number of Ferns, with a smaller number of Phsenogams. 



* Compare Buclianan's Lists of Plants found in the Province of Marlborough, and in 

 the Vicinity of Mount Egmont ; Lindsay's Contributions to New Zealand Botany ; '^ The 

 Botany of the Great Barrier," — Trans. N. Z. Inst., Vol. i. ; "The Botany of the Thames 

 Gold Field," "The Vegetation of the Neighboiirhood of Christchurch, " and "A List of 

 Plants found in the Northern Part of the Province of Auckland," — Transactions, Vol. ii. 



