PREFACE, X1ll 
Errors are unavoidable in a volume of the size and nature of a 
flora, and where the work passes from one person to another detection 
of such is made less easy. It is hoped, however, that those that appear 
in the present edition of the Manual are not many and are obvious or 
unimportant omissions or misspellings. No doubt they will be found 
mainly in the references following the descriptions of the species. 
In the preface to the first edition Mr. Cheeseman gave some figures 
relating to the extent and composition of the flora. Similar information 
based on the present edition has therefore been compiled and is given 
in the succeeding paragraphs. 
The total number of species described is 1,765, or 192 more than in 
the first edition. These are distributed over 390 genera included in 
104 families. But of these, Filices, treated by Mr. Cheeseman as a 
single family, is now generally considered to be a class of which the 
New Zealand species belong to 9 families. The average number of 
species to a family is 17, and of species in a genus is 45. These 
figures are higher than those quoted by Mr. Cheeseman, the difference 
being due to the number of new species described since the first 
edition, especially in the larger genera of flowering-plants. The species 
consist of 159 Pteridophytes, 20 Gymnosperms, and 1,584 Angiosperms, 
of which 400 are Monocotyledons and 1,184 Dicotyledons. 
The families containing more than 24 species are as under ;— 
Compositae a ie Cad | Onagraceae am .. 40 
Filices .. i .. 141 | Epacridaceae.. i 333 
Scrophulariaceae .. 138 | Boraginaceae.. .. oo 
Cyperaceae a .. 123 : Leguminosae... -. oo 
Gramineae s a 125 Juncaceae 4 bee eed 
Umbelliferae s) i OF Liliaceae e: ea 
Orchidaceae oh Saiki) | Gentianaceae 26 
Ranunculaceae .. Va =: | Cruciferae PY i =o 
Rubiaceae 55 ae 
The genera containing 20 species or more are— 
Veronica - 2s #08 | Aciphylla * ee 2h 
Celmisia A: so | OR | Gentiana a .. 24 
Carex .. 2 os ED | Pittosporum 23 
Coprosma 4 .. 44 Cotula 23 
Olearia .. 7 .. 42 | Raoulia 22 
Ranunculus A .. 4d | Carmichaelia 21 
Kpilobium a ex) Hymenophyllum 20 
Senecio .. \ 1. oO Anisotome 20 
Myosotis * eo ol Dracophyllum 20 
POG 6). a iy 6 28 
