[CONTENTS]
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CONTENTS.
I. INTRODUCTION...........5
II. HISTORY OF BOTANICAL RESEARCH IN OTAGO...........7
III. LOCALITIES AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF AUTHOR'S PLANT-COLLECTIONS IN OTAGO...........10
IV. PROJECTED FLORULA OF OTAGO...........13
V. COLONIAL SECTIONS IN NATIONAL HERBARIA...........17
VI. COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CULTIVATED FORMS...........20
VII. DETERMINATION OF SPECIES...........22
VIII. CLIMATOLOGY OF OTAGO...........25
IX. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF OTAGO...........29
X. ENUMERATION OF PLANTS COLLECTED--
Phoenogams...........36
Cryptogams...........38
Protophytes...........43
XI. CONTINUITY OF VARIATION IN RELATION TO THE LIMITATION OF SPECIES...........46
XII. OBSERVATIONS ON GENERA AND SPECIES...........48
Genus I. Aciphylla...........48
II. Viscum...........52
III. Celmisia...........52
IV. Crepis...........54
V. Rubus...........54
VI. Acaena...........57
VII. Geum...........60
VIII. Geranium...........61
IX. Gaultheria...........64
X. Wahlenbergia...........66
XI. Veronica...........67
XII. Coprosma...........70
XIII. Sophora...........73
XIV. Phormium...........77
XV. Coriaria...........83
XIII. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES...........89
XIV. PLATES (OF NEW SPECIES), AND THEIR EXPLANATION--
1. Aciphylla Colensoi ...........93
2. Viscum Lindsayi ...........93
3. Celmisia Lindsayi...........94
Crepis Novae Zelandiae ...........94
4. Poa Lindsayi ...........94
XV. INDEX...........97
I. NAMES OF OTAGO PLANTS...........97
Scientific Names: Genera, Species, and Varieties...........97
Maori Names...........98
Settlers' Names...........99
II. GENERAL SUBJECTS...........99
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[INTRODUCTION]
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INTRODUCTION.
HAVING an opportunity, in 1861, of visiting New Zealand, and of devoting a certain limited portion of time and attention to the field-study and collection of its plants, I was desirous of selecting, as the special field of my residence or travel, that province which seemed to offer at once the greatest botanical novelty--the greatest probability of the discovery of new species--and the greatest facility for their collection and study. With this view I chose Otago, then reputedly a young, quiet, pastoral province, where I had every reason to anticipate meeting with unusual facilities for both geographical exploration and botanical research. Believing that the Western Alps and the Central Lake basins (which latter had not apparently been visited by scientific travellers of any kind) constituted the most promising botanical field, I was specially desirous of traversing the province by the Clutha Valley, the Lakes, and the Alpine passes, to the west coast--somewhat by the route subsequently successfully followed by Symms, Caples, Hector, and Pyke.
I accordingly left the Clyde, for Dunedin, in July, 1861. I was fortunate in having as a fellow passenger Lieutenant-Colonel Cargill, Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. By his kind assistance--which was most valuable, as that of one of Otago's best known pioneer colonists--I was enabled so far to arrange my plans on the voyage out; and I doubt not that, with the further aid of the Provincial Government, and under the auspices of the Provincial Survey, my scheme could and would have been carried into execution at any prior period in the history of Otago. It was doomed to be frustrated, however, by a most unlooked for cause, viz., the social revolution produced by the discovery of the auriferous riches of the province by Gabriel Read. Up to the date of my leaving Scotland, no intelligence of this important discovery had reached Britain. The discovery was, indeed, nearly cotemporaneous with the date of my departure from the Clyde. 1 And it was further a curious coincidence, that Gabriel's Gully, the scene of the earliest "Digging," was on the "Run" of my friend Lieutenant-Colonel Cargill, who was quite as ignorant as myself of the wonderful social change that had occurred in Otago until we arrived at the entrance to Otago Harbour. On
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landing, I found a general condition of excitement and bustle, such as can only be understood by those who have witnessed on the spot the outbreak and crisis of a gold-digging mania. All available resources were concentrated on the Diggings; the attention of all classes of the community was thoroughly pre-occupied; and the ordinary operations of the Survey Staff were suspended. The risks of travel were considerable: "Sticking-up," and other features of "Bush-ranging," as it has been rendered familiar in the early history of Australia, were rife in Otago. What was of more importance in my case, labour was both scarce and highly valuable, and the cost of carriage correspondingly great. I could not have executed my plans without the aid of several men, and the use of drays and horses, for a considerable period (3 to 6 months). Failing thus in my overland scheme, I was still in hopes of reaching the magnificent western Fjords by sea, via the Bluff. But during my four month's residence in Otago, the navigation of its coasts was most reckless; numerous wrecks occurred, both of inter-colonial steamers and of local coasters; and even had I been prepared--contrary to the strongly-expressed advice of my friends among the Otago settlers--to undertake all the necessary risks, no opportunity of a suitable kind (as to locality) presented itself. In a word, I found it utterly impracticable to carry into effect any of my cherished schemes; and the circumstances of the time determined my excursions within comparatively narrow limits, in a district which is, or includes, the most highly cultivated and most populous part of the province. Fortunately, however, it comprises considerable variety of elevation, physical configuration, and geological character. And, further, its area had not been previously explored botanically. Whence it happened that my collection contained a much larger proportion of novelties than I had reason to anticipate. 2
