Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/30

xxvi In 1853 there appeared the first volume, containing the flowering-plants, of Sir J. D. Hooker's "Flora Novæ Zealandiæ"; the second volume, including the cryptogams, following in 1855. The publication of this important work, in every way worthy of the reputation of its distinguished author, marked a new era in the history of the botany of New Zealand. For the first time the student was provided with an account of the flora characterized by aptness of description and accuracy of detail, and prepared by a botanist who had not only studied and collected a large proportion of the species in their native habitats, but whose position gave him ample opportunities of examining the material upon which the publications of his predecessors were founded. Under such advantages, the synonyms and false species incorrectly included by previous writers disappeared, and the flora assumed more of its real proportions and extent. Altogether, the "Flora" contains descriptions of 1,767 species, or more than double the number given in the last previous enumeration, that of Raoul in the "Choix de Plantes." Of the total number, 731 are flowering-plants and 119 ferns or fern-allies, the remainder falling into other orders of Cryptogamia. The value of the work is much enhanced by the 130 carefully prepared plates which accompany it, and by the philosophic Introductory Essay dealing with the affinities and distribution of the species.

The eleven years subsequent to the publication of the "Flora" formed a period of great activity in botanical research in the colony. This was mainly due to the rapid settlement of the South Island, which led to the exploration of the central range of mountains, from Nelson to Otago, and the consequent discovery of the rich alpine flora existing thereon. The earliest worker in this field was Sir D. Monro, the first of whose contributions was received at Kew while the "Flora" was in progress. He explored a large part of north-eastern Nelson and Marlborough, making many capital discoveries, such as the magnificent Olearia insignis, Helichrysum coralloides, Celmisia Monroi, Senecio Monroi, &c. His sole publication, so far as I can learn, is an interesting essay on the Geographical Botany of Nelson and Marlborough, printed in the first volume of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute.

Mr. W. T. L. Travers arrived in Nelson in 1849. About 1854 he took up the study of the alpine flora of the South Island, making many excursions into remote and little-explored districts, and forming copious collections, the whole of which were forwarded to Kew. Among the localities botanized over by him were the upper Buller Valley, including Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoroa; the whole of the Wairau Valley, from the mouth of the river to its sources in the rugged Spenser Mountains; the upper Clarence Valley, with its tributaries; the Waiau and Hurunui Valleys, with the adjacent mountains; also the Canterbury Plains and various parts of Banks Peninsula. His discoveries