YOR^C 
PREFACE. 
The intention in publishing this book is to make known — quite as much in 
New Zealand as elsewhere — some of the lovely wild flowers we possess, many of 
which have never been painted, and some others only from dried specimens, as in 
Hooker’s Flora. This is now out of print, and no coloured illustrations of the 
New Zealand Flora have been published since. 
I have often heard it stated that we had no flowers in New Zealand, or very 
few, such as the Ratas, the red and yellow Kowhai, the Clematis, the Tea Tree, 
and a few others. When travelling about the country collecting flowers, I was 
much astonished to find how numerous and varied they w'ere. Botanists no doubt 
knew of them, and had them carefully dried ; but they were pressed out of 
shape and colour, labelled, and put away in cases out of sight, (unless required 
for reference), and each one taken from its fellows and put with others of the 
same genera from other parts of the world. It was on hearing a lecture from 
Mr. Cheeseman, in Auckland, after his return from an expedition to the mountains 
about Nelson, and to Arthur’s Pass and the Otira Gorge, Canterbury, when he 
showed us dried specimens of beautiful flowers of different colours, and described 
how lovely they looked growing in their native state, that I first thought, what a 
pity it was they were not painted. Then again, several years later, 1884, when I 
had begun to paint a few myself, I applied to Mr. Cheeseman, at the Museum in 
Auckland, for the names of some of them. He showed me three of the same genus, 
and said that this was yellow, this one was white, and this purple. They were 
all reduced to a dirty looking brown colour. I again said, “ What a pity they 
are not painted.” A gentleman present said, “Why don’t you do it?” I said, 
“ I would if Government would help me.” This the Government did. The 
Honourable E. Richardson, the Minister of Public Works, kindly gave me passes 
on the railways, and the Minister of Education, Sir Robert Stout, took copies 
of my book for public schools and libraries. Mr. Mills Managing Director of the 
Union Company, kindly gave me passes on the steamers, and later on, the 
N. Z. Shipping Company offered me a saloon passage to England for the price 
of a second class, on account of my making known the New Zealand flowers, 
but I was unfortunately unable to avail myself of the offer. 
It was a serious undertaking, for I had to travel by sea and by land, coaching 
over rough and dangerous roads, and at great expense, risk, and fatigue. But it 
was a labour of love. Every new flower was a delight and wonder ; and the scenery, 
which I might otherwise never have seen, and the delightful excursions with kind 
friends to help to get flowers for “ The Book,” was enough to repay all my fatigue. 
