CHAPTER XXII. 



THE FLOEA OF NEW ZEALAND: ITS AFFINITIES 

 AND PROBABLE ORIGIN. 



Relations of the New Zealand Flora to that of Australia — General features 

 of the Australian Flora — The Floras of South-eastern and South-western 

 Australia — Geological explanation of the differences of these two 

 Floras — The origin of the Australian element in the New Zealand Flora 

 — Tropical character of the New Zealand Flora explained- — Species 

 common to New Zealand and Australia mostly temperate forms — Why 

 easily dispersed plants have often restricted ranges — Summar}' and 

 Conclusion on the New Zealand Flora. 



Although plants have means of dispersal far exceeding those 

 possessed by animals, yet as a matter of fact comparatively few 

 species are carried for very great distances, and the flora of a 

 country taken as a whole usually affords trustworthy indications 

 of its past history. Plants, too, are more numerous in species 

 than the higher animals, and are almost always better known; 

 their affinities have been more systematically studied ; and it may 

 be safely affirmed that no explanation of the origin of the fauna 

 of a country can be sound, which does not also explain, or at 

 least harmonise with, the distribution and relations of its flora. 



The relations of the flora of New Zealand to that of Aus- 

 tralia have long formed an insoluble enigma for botanists. Sir 

 Joseph Hooker, in his most instructive and masterly essay on 

 the flora of Australia, says : — " Under ^vhatever aspect I 

 regard the flora of Australia and of New Zealand, I find all 

 attempts to theorise on the possible causes of their community 

 of feature frustrated by anomalies in distribution, such as I 



