4H PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



For ordinary field purposes, the venation is the most readil\- 

 available distinctive character, but the student will soon 

 recognise the differences between a mono- and a di- 

 cotvledon. The leaves of the monocotyledon are usually long 

 and narrow, and often sword-shaped. They frequently have 

 sheathing bases. The chief New Zealand nronocotyledons are 

 the grasses, rushes, cut-grasses, brrlrushes, native flax (Phor- 

 III ill III), cabbage-tree, supple-jack, and Xikair-palm. The 

 dicotyledons constitute the great majority of flrjwering plants. 



The classes are sub-divided into sub-classes. The sub- 

 classes are split up into orders, the orders into families, the 

 families into geirera, and the genera into species. The species 

 form the units on which the whole classification is built u[). 

 It is impossible to define a species further, thair by saying that 

 all plants of one kind are included in it. All individuals within 

 the species, are more like each other than they are like 

 any plants outside of it. Tlie species are birilt up into genera. 

 The genus may contain any number of species. Thus, there 

 is only one species of Entelea known, and it is confined to the 

 Auckland province. On the otlier hand, there are some eighty 

 species (jf Veronica in New Zealand, and many more in other 

 parts of the world. 



Every plant has two names : (1) the name of the genus to 

 which it belongs ; ('2) tlie name of the species. Thus, there 

 are two kinds of native flax, each with the same generic name 

 {Plioriiiiiim) but with difl'erent specific names, P. tena.r and 

 P. Cookiaiuim. To the scientific name of the plant, should be 

 attached the name of the author of the species. This has not 

 been done here, as the names given m Air. C'heeseman's hand- 

 book have been adopted, except m one or two specially 

 mentioned instances. 



In endeavouring to identif\- a species, the student should 

 remember that there is scarcely any rule in botany without 

 exceptions. Many of our New ZeaJand plants do not 

 completely exemplify the characters of the order, or genus, 



