238 msays. 



8. In order, liowever, that the botanical geography of this large island 

 may be the better known, especially to those at a distance, it wiU be necessary 

 to go a little into detail, and to show the same, as far as practicable, from 

 its insular position, climate, and situation ; as well as from a brief comparison 

 of its botany with that of the nearest lands. In doing this, the phaenogamous 

 genera and species, including also ferns endemic to our island, will be par- 

 ticularly noticed ; and those plants "ivhich are very local in their habitat will 

 be pointed out. Eor although the general climate of the whole island is 

 temperate and genial (extending as it does from 34° to 42° south, and with 

 only two elevations above the line of perpetual snow)., several of its vege- 

 table productions are remarkably local. And, that this may be the more 

 naturally and readily perceived, it is proposed to show the same in two 

 ways : — (1) by areas corresponding more or less to its degrees of latitude ; 

 and (2) by zones increasing in altitude surrounding the island.* 



Of phaenogamic genera which as far as is at present known are peculiar 

 to the North Island of New Zealand, the following may be mentioned, viz. : — 

 JEnieJea, Aclcama, Ixerha, Alseuosmia (several species), Colensoa, Sahdotham- 

 nus, JSfeso daphne (2 sp.), Dactylantlms, and Adenochilus; and of ferns, 

 Loxsoma. And of endemic species of genera hitherto unknown to the other 

 New Zealand Islands, the following : — 



PHiEIfOGAMS. 



Pliebalium nudumf Olea montana Santalum cunuiugliamii 



Pomaderris elliptica G-eiiiostoma ligustrifolium Elatostemma riigosum 



„ edgerleji Calceolaria siuclaii'ii Daiumara australis 



„ phylicifolia „ repens Sarcochilus adversiis 



Cliantlius puniceus Grlossostigma elatinoides Alepyrum pallidum 



* I had also drawn a third division or classification of many of the plants of the North 

 Island, according to its geognostic formation ; but I have been obhged to abandon it, 

 chieHy through want of space. Wo doubt, hereafter, it will be both interesting and useful 

 to show the geognostic habitats of the various species, — whether on clay or alluvial sods, — 

 on limestone, sandstone {2:>aIcBozoic), or volcanic formations, &c. I feel assured that much 

 more attention is absolutely needful to this branch of the science than has hitherto been 

 given it, as a necessary step towards the solving of the great problem concerning the 

 distribution of plants. I remember well (in 184<5) being forcibly struck with seeing certain 

 Bay of Islands plants (e.g. Metrosideros scandens, Gaultheria antipoda, Cordyline stricta, 

 LindstBU linearis, Lycopodium volubile, &c.) on the clayey hills near Wellington — plants 

 which I had not before seen south of the Thames. I may also mention that, in 1844, 

 Dr. Hooker published in the London Journal of Botany, Vol. III., the names, &c., of a 

 collection of 123 plants made in the neighbourhood of "Wellington by a visitor, of which 

 number only two or perhaps three were not identical with the Bay of Islands plants. 

 Hence arose a suspicion that the North Island of New Zealand possessed but few species, 

 seeing that the same plants were collected in latitudes so far apart. But the fact is, that 

 the same geologic features obtain ou those hills as at the Bay of Islands, although but 

 rarely intermediate. And many of these species (as far as I know) are not elsewhere 

 found between 36° South and Cook Strait. 



.f Also found at Norfolk Island. 



