Thomas Frederick Cheeseman

“ In attempting to determine the species of Coprosma really good and well-selected specimens showing both foliage and flowers are indispensable. Both sexes should be collected; and, as important characters are often afiorded by the fruit, it should be obtained also, if possible from the same plant from which the female flowers were taken, notes being preserved of the shape, size, colour, and other characters lost in drying. Notes should also be kept of the habit and mode of growth, some of the closely allied species being easily distinguished by that alone. ”

“ The discrimination of the species is probably more difficult in Carmichælia than in any other genus in the New Zealand flora, and the student will find it almost impossible to name his specimens with accuracy until he has collected most of the species and become familiar with their characters. In most cases characters based upon the vegetative organs are by themselves useless. The leaves, when they can be examined, are singularly uniform; and the branchlets are not only highly variable in width, but may be flattened in spring and nearly terete in autumn. ”

“ It is found in every part of the world, from the equator to the limits of phænogamic vegetation in the arctic and antarctic regions, and is equally plentiful in lowland districts and in mountainous or alpine situations. In New Zealand it constitutes rather more than one-seventh of the total number of flowering plants, a somewhat large proportion, the ratio of the whole order to the flowering plants of the world being generally estimated at about one-tenth. Although so numerous in species, the order is far from being proportionately important from an economic point of view. ”

“ After a short stay in Auckland he proceeded to Nelson, where he made important collections, adding many species to the alpine flora. He then repaired to Canterbury, and joined the late Sir Julius Haast in the geological and botanical survey then being made of the Southern Alps. There, in the year 1861, he was unfortunately drowned in an imprudent attempt to ford the Rangitata River. Although he never published anything of importance on New Zealand plants, his name will always be remembered as one of the pioneers of botanical discovery in the colony. ”

“ W. Colenso, both on account of the number and variety of his discoveries, and the ardour with which, for a period of no less than sixty-five years, he continued to observe and to collect facts and specimens in almost all branches of natural science, always giving the leading place to botany. Arriving in New Zealand in 1834, he was induced, first by the visit of the illustrious Darwin in the "Beagle" in 1835, and later by Allan Cunningham in 1838, to take up the study of the botany of his adopted country, forwarding his specimens from time to time to Sir W. J. Hooker at Kew. ”

“ Taken in the sense of the "Genera Plantarum" this is a genus of from 120 to 150 species, most of them natives of tropical Asia, Africa, and America; with comparatively few species in extra-tropical Asia and Africa, in Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia; the 8 species found in New Zealand being all endemic. In Carl Mez's recent monograph of the order, published in "Das Pflanzenreich," the New Zealand forms are referred to the genera Suttonia and Rapanea, the first comprising those with absolutely free petals, the second those in which the corolla is more or less gamopetalous. ”

“ Among the species used for food the most noteworthy is the coffee-plant, which is now cultivated in all warm countries, and is of immense commercial importance. Many ornamental plants belong to the order, the various kinds of Bouvardia, Gardenia, Ixora, &c., being well-known examples. Of the 4 New Zealand genera, Coprosma extends to Australia and Tasmania, the Pacific Islands, New Guinea, and the mountains of Borneo. ”

“ Ernest Dieffenbach made extensive travels in New Zealand as naturalist to the New Zealand Company. In addition to an examination of the whole of the northern peninsula, from the North Cape to Auckland, he travelled along the western coast to Raglan and Kawhia, and, crossing to the Waipa Valley, followed the western bank of the Waikato River to Lake Taupo. A project to ascend Tongariro and Ruapehu was frustrated by the opposition of the Maoris, and he returned to Auckland by way of Rotorua, Tauranga, and the Thames Valley. ”

“ The literature and descriptions of the new species are scattered through the thirty-seven volumes of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute and other publications, some of which are not readily accessible to the majority of workers in the colony. To make satisfactory use of such a mass of unarranged and undigested material is beyond the power of any except a few experts: in any case an attempt to do so would prove both tedious and troublesome. ”

“ A very variable plant. Small states sometimes have the throat of the corolla either without scales or with very obscure ones. This character was used by De Candolle to constitute his subgenus Gymnomyosotis, but there is a gradual transition from flowers without scales to others in which they are as well developed as in other species of the genus, and looking at the fact that the filaments are at least longer than the anthers it seems best to place the species in the subgenus Exarrhena, and in the neighbourhood of M. petiolata. ”

“ Several species of Nephelium, such as the Litchi and Longan, produce some of the most delicious of Asiatic fruits. Many species contain bitter or astringent principles, while others, as some of the American species of Serjania and Paullinia, are reputed to be poisonous. The two genera found in New Zealand belong to the tribe Dodonææ, which has regular flowers, stamens inserted outside the disc (not inside) , and exalbuminous seeds. Alectryon is endemic, but Dodonæa is most abundant in Australia, extending also through the tropics of both hemispheres. ”

“ Altogether 380 species are enumerated, 211 of which are phænogams and 169 cryptogams, 51 of the latter being ferns. It is the first publication dealing with the flora of New Zealand as a whole, and possesses considerable merit, so much so that it is to be regretted that so little use of it has been made by New Zealand botanists.
Early in the nineteenth century a trading intercourse sprang up between the North Island and Sydney, and by degrees a small European settlement began to form at the Bay of Islands. ”

“ The New Zealand species are all endemic, and all possess once- or twice-ternately divided leaves and diœcious flowers, the males without any carpels, the females usually with a few imperfect stamens. Most of them vary greatly in the foliage, especially the large-leaved species. These in their normal state have 3-foliolate leaves with the leaflets toothed or lobed, but all run into varieties in which the leaves are biternate or decompound, the ultimate segments being much reduced in size. ”

“ Dr. Andrew Sinclair was originally a surgeon in the Royal Navy, and first became known as a botanist from the collections he made while attached to the surveying expedition of H.M.S. "Sulphur" to the Pacific coasts of North and South America. He first visited New Zealand in 1841, during the stay of the Antarctic Expedition at the Bay of Islands, and accompanied Sir J. D. Hooker and Mr. Colenso in numerous botanical expeditions. Returning to Australia, he met with Captain Fitzroy, who was then on his way to New Zealand as Governor, and who engaged him as private secretary. ”

“ With regard to the citation of previous authors, I have as a rule considered it unnecessary to do more than quote the publications that deal solely or mainly with New Zealand botany, such as Forster's Prodromus, A. Richard's Flora, Cunningham's Precursor, Raoul's Choix, and the works of Hooker and Kirk. Had I given references to general works on botany or to special monographs, the bulk of this work would have been greatly increased without sufficient corresponding advantage. ”

“ The whole of the species capture insects, usually by means of glandular viscid and irritable hairs; but in some cases, as the well-known Venus's fly-trap (Dioncsa muscipula) by rapidly closing laminae, which shut the insects as it were in a box. For a full account reference should be made to Mr. Darwin's well-known book on "Insectivorous Plants." The single New Zealand genus is the largest in the order, and has an almost world-wide distribution. ”

“ A large genus, common in the temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere, rarer in the tropics and south temperate zone. The fruits of all the species are edible, and some of them, such as the raspberry and blackberry, both of which have become naturalised in New Zealand, are excellent. All the New Zealand species are endemic. ”

“ E. glabellum, Forst. Prodr. n. 160.—Stems 6–14 in. high, usually numerous from a hard and woody base, decumbent below, strict and erect above, terete or obscurely tetragonous, often red or purple, glabrous with the exception of 2 or 4 pubescent lines decurrent from the petioles, simple or branched below, remotely or densely leafy. ”

“ Forty-two years have elapsed since Sir J. D. Hooker published the first part of his "Handbook of the New Zealand Flora." Although no complete account of the plants of the colony has since been prepared, botanical investigations have been actively and zealously carried on, and a large amount of fresh material obtained. No less than four hundred separate communications or short papers dealing with the botany of New Zealand have been published, and the number of new species proposed is considerably over a thousand. ”

“ One species ascends the mountains to a height of 6000 ft., and reaches as far south as Macquarie Island, where it is the sole ligneous plant. The species are extremely variable in habit, foliage, and vegetative characters generally; and, as the flowers are small and inconspicuous and very uniform in structure throughout the genus, it is no easy matter to obtain good distinctive characters, even when dealing with fresh specimens. ”

“ I am not without hopes that I may be enabled to prepare a supplementary volume containing concise but sufficient descriptions of the foreign element of the flora; for this alone will remove the inconvenience resulting from the want of a ready means of determining all the plants which a student may observe in any district. In the meantime, I have given in the Appendix a nominal list of all well-established naturalised plants, with references to books in which descriptions of them can be found. ”

“ The species are mainly tropical or subtropical; most abundant in South America and Australia, much less common in Asia and Africa; more frequent in the south temperate zone than in the north, where they are decidedly rare. ”

“ The first volume of the "Flora Antarctica," prepared by Hooker after his return to England, and issued in 1844, is confined to the flora of the Auckland and Campbell Islands. It contains descriptions of 100 species of flowering-plants and twenty ferns and fern-allies, together with numerous mosses, Hepaticæ, and other cryptogams, and is illustrated with eighty beautifully prepared plates, fifty-six of which are of phænogams. ”

“ He landed on both the northern and southern banks of the Waitemata, and, having sent a boat up the Tamaki River as far as the present township of Otahuhu, some of his men were guided by the Maoris across the narrow isthmus to the head of the Manukau Harbour. D'Urville left Auckland Harbour by the Waiheke Channel, passed between the Great and Little Barrier Islands, and after a cruise to the North Cape returned to the Bay of Islands. On the 18th March he finally left New Zealand, having spent a little more than two months on its shores. ”

“ Most of the species are either tropical or inhabit South Africa or Australia. They are comparatively rare in the north temperate zone. The chief characteristic of the order is the presence of an essential oil, which is usually abundant in the leaves and young growing parts, often giving them an aromatic odour and bitter or pungent taste. ”

“ During a residence of more than twenty years in Otago he sedulously investigated the vegetation of the eastern, central, and southern portions of the province, ascending many of the mountains, and forming large collections, especially of the rarer alpine and subalpine plants. Among the species added by him to the flora are Ranunculus Berggreni, Carmichælia compacta and C. Petriei, Coprosma virescens and C. Petriei, Olearia fragrantissima, Celmisia prorepens and C. Petriei, Myosotis Goyeni, Tetrachondra Hamiltoni, Veronica Petriei, Ourisia prorepens, &c. ”

“ Herbs of very various habit, or (in species not found in New Zealand) rarely shrubs. Leaves alternate, toothed, seldom entire. Flowers axillary and solitary, or in terminal racemes. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary; limb 5-partite. Corolla oblique, split to the base at the back, 2-lipped; upper lip 2-partite, usually erect, lower 3-lobed, spreading. Staminal tube free from the corolla or rarely adnate to it at the very base; anthers connate, all or the 2 lower only tipped with bristles. Ovary 2-celled; ovules numerous ”