BOTANY. 
673 
In England there are not more than thirty-five native trees 
out of 1400 species; in New Zealand of flowering trees,, 
including shrubs above twenty feet high, there are upwards 
of 113, or nearly one-sixth of the flora, besides 456 shrubs 
and plants with woody stems; the number of trees, the 
paucity of herbaceous plants, and the almost total absence 
of annuals, are amongst the most remarkable features of the 
flora. Dr. Hooker thinks that the conifera will prove, when 
known, to be the most universally prevalent natural family. 
The plants number 730, the ferns (including lycopodia) 
nearly 200, the mosses and hepaticse 450 ; and the same 
botanist expresses his opinion that the fungi also will be 
found to number more than 1000 species. The algae 
enumerated by Dr. Harvey, are nearly 300 species, which 
have from their beauty and singularity long been objects of 
great interest. Thus the total number of species according 
to Dr. Hooker is 2000 ; and the orders most numerous in 
species are composite, 90 ; cyperaceae, 66 : graminese, 53 ; 
scrophularineae, 40 ; orchideae, 39 ; rubiaceae, 26 ; epacrideae 
and umbellifera, each 23 ; none of which can be said to form 
prevalent features in the landscape, though none are rare.* 
The most tropical of all the New Zealand trees is the nikau 
(i areca sapida.) The family of Palmce has only this repre- 
sentative ; it is a most graceful and beautiful tree, attaining 
the height of forty feet, and a foot in diameter, the flower 
forms a large droop of a flesh color, not much unlike a 
cauliflower, which is succeeded by a bunch of red berries ; 
the pinnate leaf is of a large size, and used in lining the in- 
side roof of houses ; the natives plait it very neatly ; its 
tender shoot is eaten and tastes somewhat like a nut; the 
stem is of a dark clear green color, and at every four inches 
there is a ring, which marks its age ; it is only found in the 
dense forest. 
The nearly allied asphodelacese, have more species, and 
give a character to the plain. The ti , (cor deline Australis, or 
dracena Australis, J is found throughout the island in great 
* The late researches in the alpine regions of the middle island, by Dr. 
Haast, have added greatly to the numbers here given. 
X X 
