The desirability of publishing a compendious account of the plants of New Zealand having been represented to the Colonial Government by Dr. Knight, F.L.S., Auditor-General, and other gentlemen interested in the Natural History of the Islands, and in the development of their resources, that Government was pleased to entrust me with the preparation of such a work, and to place at my disposal the necessary funds for its publication, including a liberal remuneration for my services. I was at the same time instructed to make Mr. Bentham's ‘Hongkong Flora’ my guide as to the form of the work and method of describing the plants, and to adhere in these and in all other matters to the plan recommended by Sir W. J. Hooker for publishing in a uniform series Floras of all the British Colonies. The title ‘Handbook of the New Zealand Flora’ is adopted in accordance with the wishes of its promoters.

Though as complete as the materials at my disposal enable me to make this book, it is still imperfect as to the descriptions of several Orders of Flowering plants; whilst with regard to the Flowerless, it is tolerably complete in the Orders Ferns and Lycopods only; of the others, the islands no doubt possess twice as many Mosses and Jungermannias as have hitherto been discovered; and I have been able to offer but a meagre sketch of the Fungi, of the lower tribes of Algæ, and of the more minute and especially crustaceous Lichens that grow on rocks and on the bark of trees.

The following Keys are intended to facilitate the student's endeavours to determine the names of New Zealand plants. I have tried to make them as simple as possible by avoiding the use of more technical terms than necessary, and by employing in many cases characters taken from the general habit of the plants. None of these Keys can, however, be used, without some previous study of the elements of structural botany; for the terms employed have each an exact meaning, which cannot safely be guessed at. The amount of study required depends much upon whether the student's powers of observation and of reasoning are good and accurate; but no amount of ability will obviate the absolute necessity of observing the characters of plants carefully and accurately, and clearly understanding the application of the terms used in defining these characters; and I would remind both teachers and students, that it is now a generally received opinion, that no subject is so well suited as systematic botany, to quicken the observing powers, and to improve the reasoning faculties of the young; and I believe that a little training in the use of these Keys alone, will sharpen the intellect of the quickest to a remarkable degree, and materially improve that of the dullest.

CHAP. I. DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY

1. The principal object of a Flora of a country, is to afford the means of determining (i. e. ascertaining the name of) any plant growing in it, whether for the purpose of ulterior study or of intellectual exercise.

2. With this view, a Flora consists of descriptions of all the wild or native plants contained in the country in question, so drawn up and arranged that the student may identify with the corresponding description any individual specimen which he may gather.

3. These descriptions should be clear, concise, accurate, and characteristic, so as that each one should be readily adapted to the plant it relates to, and to no other one; they should be as nearly as possible arranged under natural (184) divisions, so as to facilitate the comparison of each plant with those nearest allied to it; and they should be accompanied by an artificial key or index, by means of which the student may be guided step by step in the observation of such peculiarities or characters in his plant, as may lead him, with the least delay, to the individual description belonging to it.

4. For descriptions to be clear and readily intelligible, they should be expressed as much as possible in ordinary well-established language. But, for the purpose of accuracy, it is necessary not only to give a more precise technical meaning to many terms used more or less vaguely in common conversation, but also to introduce purely technical names for such parts of plants or forms as are of little importance except to the botanist.