Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/40

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xxxvi
HISTORY OF BOTANICAL DISCOVERY

mahoni, C. Rutlandii, and Veronica rigidula are interesting novelties first observed by him.

Mr. K. H. Matthews, of Kaitaia, has assiduously collected in most parts of Mongonui County, paying special attention to the Orchideæ. He has added Corysanthes Matthewsii and Chiloglottis formicifera to the flora, and has succeeded in refinding Pittosporum obcordatum, which for sixty years after its original discovery by Raoul had eluded the search of New Zealand botanists.

Mr. H. Carse, now resident in Mongonui County, has botanized in several portions of the Auckland Provincial District. He has given special attention to the Cyperaceæ, adding Schœnus Carsei and Lepidosperma filiforme to the list of those already known to occur in the colony. He was also the first to observe the curious little plant which I have provisionally described under the name of Trithuria inconspicua.

For several years Mr. F. A. D. Cox has carefully investigated the flora of the Chatham Islands, obtaining much new information relating to the distribution and environment of the species, and collecting a few novelties. His specimens, often accompanied by valuable notes, have been forwarded to Mr. Kirk, Dr. Cockayne, and myself.

Other recent workers are R. Helms, R. J. Kingsley, J. Dall, D. W. Bryant, Elsdon Best, E. W. Andrews, J. B. Simpson, H. Nairn, J. R. Annabell, J. B. Lee, and T. P. Arnold.

In the preceding sketch I have made no attempt to include the names of those authors who have published general works or special monographs in which New Zealand plants are casually mentioned or described. Nor have I mentioned the labours of those who have attended solely to the lower cryptogams, a branch of the flora which is outside the scope of the present work.