INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. V 



and Decaisne in the ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles*,' and the beautiful ( Choix de Plantes de la 

 Nouvelle-Zelande,' published in 1846, a work accompanied with plates of rare excellence as botanical 

 drawings, and with a careful enumerationf of all known New Zealand plants, compiled from the 

 collections in the Paris Museum, and from M. Richard's and Cunningham's Floras. 



In 1847 H.M.St.V. Acheron was commissioned by Captain Stokes, R.N., for the survey of New 

 Zealand, to explore the western and southern coasts ; and we are indebted to the exertions of the 

 eminent hydrographer of the navy, Sir Francis Beaufort, for the selection of a naturalist as surgeon 

 to the expedition. My friend Dr. LyaD, in whose company I had formerly botanized in the Bay of 

 Islands during the Antarctic ExpeditionJ, was selected for the service ; and devoting himself, like Mr. 

 Menzies, with indefatigable zeal to the lower Orders especially, he amassed the most beautiful and 

 important collections in these branches of botany, that have ever been formed ; besides making con- 

 siderable discoveries in Phsenogamic plants, and collecting many that had previously only been 

 gathered by Banks and Solander and the Forsters. 



As far as the discovery of species is concerned, the above enumeration brings me down to the 

 present state of our knowledge of the New Zealand Flora; but it remains for me to observe that 

 within the last three years, indeed since the announcement of this work being forthcoming, I have 

 been favoured with more than a dozen collections from various parts of the island. Of new gleaners 

 in the field, I would especially mention Dr. Monro, Mr. Knight, the Rev. Mr. Taylor, Captain 

 Drury, Mr. Jolliffe, Captain D. Rough, and Lieutenant-Colonel Bolton; all of whom have sent 

 valuable contributions. It is true that these contain little novelty, but they throw light on the 

 distribution of the species, and afford materials for tracing their geographical limits. 



From these materials the ' Flora of New Zealand ' has been worked up : its probable complete- 

 ness may be judged of by the fact that the islands have been botanized on by upwards of thirty-five 

 individuals, whose specimens have (with a few unimportant exceptions) all passed under my eye. 

 The Flora of the Northern Island has been tolerably well examined, so far as its flowering plants are 

 ^concerned ; though there remains a good deal to be done on the west coast, especially in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Mount Egmont. Dr. Lyall alone has collected in the Southern Island, or on the west 

 coast north of Dusky Bay. The Middle Island has been visited by few explorers, its north and east 

 coasts alone having been botanized : the west and the whole mountain range require a careful survey ; 

 and considering how many Auckland and Campbell Islands plants are still strangers to New Zealand, 

 it cannot be doubted that much remains to be discovered there. Excepting from the above-men- 

 tioned tracts, I do not expect much novelty amongst flowering plants, for th® following reasons : — 

 1, there is a remarkable sameness in the flora throughout large tracts§ ; 2, because out of the 

 730 flowering plants known, there are scarcely one hundred that have not been gathered by several 

 individuals ; 3, because the collections I have lately received, though some of them are extensive, 

 and from scarcely visited localities, yet contain little or no novelty. With Cryptogamia the case is 

 widely different ; and it is difficult to estimate the vast number, especially of Mosses, Hepatiae, and 

 * Annales des Sciences Naturelles, August, 1844. 



f In this enumeration upwards of 500 species of flowering plants are named, but fully one hundred of these 

 are synonyms, introduced species, or erroneous ones of Cunningham and others. 



% In the above list I have not thought it necessary to allude to the collections made at the Bay of Islands by 

 Dr. Lyall and myself in the Antarctic Expedition : they contained no novelty amongst flowering plants, not known to 

 Mr. Colenso and Dr. Sinclair, with whom I spent many happy days. Amongst Cryptogamic plants I collected much 

 that was then new, but most of the species have since been found elsewhere. 

 § In this respect New Zealand contrasts remarkably with Tasmania. 



