﻿Kirk.— 0«- the Ne^o Zealand Asteliads. 241 



one or two generations back as observers of natural phenomena. Any person 

 who may take the trouble to inquire tlie names of even common plants from 

 the Maoris, will quickly find the same name applied to very different plants — 

 no two individuals agreeing in their application. In the Waikato I have heard 

 the common T^Tgaio {Mi/oporum laitum) called a " pakeha " tree. 



The causes of the rapid diffusion of plants in certain localities are often 

 obscui-e, but in all cases are worthy the attention of observers resident in the 

 localities where their operations are exhibited. Many curious instances of the 

 local diffusion of rare plants will be I'eadily called to mind by the student of 

 European floras — the viatical plants especially, to which the subject of this 

 paper belongs, furnish an assemblage of remarkable phenomena of this kind. 



Art. XLII. — Notes on the New Zealand Asteliads, with Descriptions of 

 Neio Species. By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 



\Read hefore the Auckland Institute, 31st Jtdy, 1871.] 



I HAVE delayed the publication of the following notes chiefly from a strong 

 desire to procure alpine specimens of the genus for comparison with the low- 

 land forms, but so far, I regret to say, with but little success. As few genera 

 of New Zealand plants present greater difficulties than Astelia to the student 

 of herbarium specimens only, and on the other hand few are moi-e facile of 

 discrimination when the ripe fruit is available for examination, it seems 

 advisable to place the knowledge already gained on permanent record with a 

 view of facilitating further inquiry. 



In the " Flora ISTovae Zelandise " five species were described, and although 

 numei'ous dried specimens were forwarded to Dr. Hooker between the publi- 

 cation of that work and the " Handbook of the New Zealand Flora," an 

 interval of twenty years, no positive additions were made to our knowledge 

 of the genus, notwithstanding that special attention was drawn by the learned 

 editor to the desirability of a revision of the characters laid down. 



Although the genus, even with recent additions, contains but seven or 

 eight species, it yet occupies a prominent place in the vegetation of the 

 colony. The geographical distribution of the species is at present imperfectly 

 worked out, but it is known that Astelia Solandri and A. grandis are found 

 from the North Cape to Invercargill. The former, called by the natives 

 " Kaha-kaha," is abundant, usually growing on the limbs of ti'ees, where it forms 

 masses resembling the nests of immense birds ; it is equally common on rocks, 

 especially in woods. The latter, called the " Kakaha," is not unfrequent in 

 swamps and marshy gullies, and is the largest species of the genus, its 

 leaves being sometimes 8 to 9 feet in length, and 5 inches in breadth. 



