26 
and in other cases pulls the labels up and 
throws them away. 
The old gardens of Riverton and Ore- 
puki were closely scanned and _ searched, 
and although nothing of note was found in 
these places many fine old veronicas were 
seen 
Invercargill Gardens had been planted 
{ty years ago with many choice native 
plants, and it was here V. Parviflora was 
first seen, the original plant having been 
brought from the Great Barrier in 1872. 
Another plant got from Invercargill was 
V. Martini, which is not described in the 
‘Transactions. This plant was found by 
Mr Martin and Mr Edginton nearly fifty 
years ago on the Longwoods, but is now 
practically extinct on these mountains. 
An important source from which the col- 
lection of Messrs Hart and Darton was built 
up was the Dunedin Botanical Gardens. 
Here for mary years, chiefly through the 
assistance of the late Mr H. J. Matthews, 
an extensive collection of veronicas was 
being gathered together. At the time of 
Mr Matthews’s death the Dunedin Gardens 
secured specimens of every veronica he had. 
in addition, of course, to many other valu- 
able native plants. These were for the 
most part arranged in the rock garden op- 
posite the Band Rotunda, where something 
like 100 different varieties may be seen to- 
day in particularly vigorous and flourishing 
condition. The first which Messrs Hart and 
Darton obtained from this source were re- 
ceived in exchange for daffodil bulbs, and 
were for planting among the daffodils on 
the hillsides. The Lawrence collectors were 
given free access to the Gardens to obtain 
any species they desired, and they in turn 
have given specimens to Mr Tannock so 
that he has now in his nursery an almost 
complete replica of the collection at Wether- 
stones. Many of the species from Mr 
Matthews’s garden were unnamed, and the 
work of identification and classifying has 
beer. done by Messrs Hart and Darton. 
One of the first of the private gardens to 
be visited was that known to a large circle 
of Nature-lovers as ‘‘Martin’s Garden.” 
It is situated on a sunny slope at Fairfield, 
