Flora Novae-Zelandiae

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Flora Novae-Zelandiae
Author Joseph Dalton Hooker
Illustrator Walter Hood Fitch
LanguageEnglish
SeriesMonthly parts
Subject Botany
Publisher Reeve Brothers
Publication date
1851–1853
Publication placeEngland

The Flora Novae-Zelandiae is a description of the plants discovered in New Zealand during the Ross expedition written by Joseph Dalton Hooker and published by Reeve Brothers in London between 1853 and 1855. [1] Hooker sailed on HMS Erebus as assistant surgeon. [2] It was the third in a series of four Floras in the Flora Antarctica , the others being the Botany of Lord Auckland's Group and Campbell's Island (1843–45), the Botany of Fuegia, the Falklands, Kerguelen's Land, Etc. (1845–1847), and the Flora Tasmaniae (1853–1859). They were "splendidly" illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch. [3]

Contents

The larger part of the plant specimens collected during the Ross expedition are now part of the Kew Herbarium. [4]

Context

The British government fitted out an expedition led by James Clark Ross to investigate magnetism and marine geography in high southern latitudes, which sailed with two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus on 29 September 1839 from Chatham. [5]

The ships arrived, after several stops, at the Cape of Good Hope on 4 April 1840. On 21 April the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera was found off Marion Island, but no landfall could be made there or on the Crozet Islands due to the harsh winds. On 12 May the ships anchored at Christmas Harbour for two and a half months, during which all the plant species previously encountered by James Cook on the Kerguelen Islands were collected. On 16 August they reached the River Derwent, remaining in Tasmania until 12 November. A week later the flotilla stopped at Lord Auckland's Islands and Campbell's Island for the spring months. [5]

Large floating forests of Macrocystis and Durvillaea were found until the ships ran into icebergs at latitude 61° S. Pack-ice was met at 68° S and longitude 175°. During this part of the voyage Victoria Land, Mount Erebus and Mount Terror were discovered. After returning to Tasmania for three months, the flotilla went via Sydney to the Bay of Islands, and stayed for three months in New Zealand to collect plants there. After visiting other islands, the ships returned to the Cape of Good Hope on 4 April 1843. At the end of the journey specimens of some fifteen hundred plant species had been collected and preserved. [5]

Book

Flora Novae-Zelandiae was published between 1851 and 1853.

The book begins with an introductory essay which begins by summarizing the history of botanical research of the islands. Hooker singles out the work of Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on Captain Cook's first voyage in 1769, also mentioning Cook's second voyage and, 20 years later, the explorations of the French survey ship Coquille and the plant collector D'Urville. Hooker notes that the fungi of the islands remained largely unknown. The next chapter of the essay, on plant biogeography and evolution, is entitled "On the limits of species; their dispersion and variation"; Hooker discusses how plant species may have originated, and notes how much more they vary than was often supposed. The third chapter of the essay considers the "affinities" (relationships) of the New Zealand flora to other floras.

The flora proper begins with a short introduction explaining the book's approach; as with the other volumes, the bulk of the text is a systematic account of the families and species found by the expedition.

Impact

David Frodin commented in 2001 that J. D. Hooker was the first to study the sub-Antarctic Campbell Island and the Auckland group, and that the Flora "largely completed" the "primary phase of botanical survey in the [New Zealand] region". [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Dalton Hooker</span> British botanist and explorer (1817–1911)

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, succeeding his father, William Jackson Hooker, and was awarded the highest honours of British science.

David Lyall (1817–1895) MD, RN, FLS, was a Scottish botanist who explored Antarctica, New Zealand, the Arctic and North America and was a lifelong friend of Sir Joseph Hooker. He was born in Auchenblae, Kincardineshire, Scotland on 1 June 1817.

<i>Adenochilus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Adenochilus, commonly known as gnome orchids is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the orchid family Orchidaceae, one endemic to New Zealand and the other to Australia. Both species have a long, horizontal, underground rhizome with a single leaf on the flowering stem and a single resupinate flower with its dorsal sepal forming a hood over the labellum and column.

<i>Herpolirion</i> Genus of flowering plants

Herpolirion is a genus of perennial herbs in the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae. The sole species is Herpolirion novae-zelandiae, commonly known as sky lily. It is native to New Zealand as well as the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania in Australia.

<i>Caladenia alpina</i> Species of orchid

Caladenia alpina, commonly known as the mountain caladenia, is a species of plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is native to subalpine areas of south-eastern Australia and to New Zealand. It has a single fleshy leaf and a thin wiry flowering spike bearing two white flowers with red bars on the labellum. In New Zealand this orchid is sometimes known as Caladenia lyallii.

<i>Epilobium pedunculare</i> Species of flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae

Epilobium pedunculare, the rockery willowherb, is a species of Epilobium similar to E. brunnescens. It is found on the Antipodean Islands, Chatham Island, Macquarie Island, and both the North and South Island of New Zealand.

<i>Flora Antarctica</i> Scientific work by Joseph Dalton Hooker

The Flora Antarctica, or formally and correctly The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the years 1839–1843, under the Command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, is a description of the many plants discovered on the Ross expedition, which visited islands off the coast of the Antarctic continent, with a summary of the expedition itself, written by the British botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker and published in parts between 1844 and 1859 by Reeve Brothers in London. Hooker sailed on HMS Erebus as assistant surgeon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross expedition</span> 1839–43 British Antarctic exploration mission

The Ross expedition was a voyage of scientific exploration of the Antarctic in 1839 to 1843, led by James Clark Ross, with two unusually strong warships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. It explored what is now called the Ross Sea and discovered the Ross Ice Shelf. On the expedition, Ross discovered the Transantarctic Mountains and the volcanoes Mount Erebus and Mount Terror, named after each ship. The young botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker made his name on the expedition.

The Flora Tasmaniae is a description of the plants discovered in Tasmania during the Ross expedition written by Joseph Dalton Hooker and published by Reeve Brothers in London between 1855 and 1860. Hooker sailed on HMS Erebus as assistant surgeon. Written in two volumes, it was the last in a series of four Floras in the Flora Antarctica, the others being the Botany of Lord Auckland's Group and Campbell's Island (1843–1845), the Botany of Fuegia, the Falklands, Kerguelen's Land, Etc. (1845–47), and the Flora Novae-Zelandiae (1851–1853). They were "splendidly" illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch.

The Botany of Fuegia, the Falklands, Kerguelen's Land, Etc. is a description of the plants discovered in these islands during the Ross expedition written by Joseph Dalton Hooker and published by Reeve Brothers in London between 1845 and 1847. Hooker sailed on HMS Erebus as assistant surgeon. It was the second in a series of four Floras in the Flora Antarctica, the others being the Flora of Lord Auckland and Campbell's Islands (1843-1845), the Flora Novae-Zelandiae (1851–1853), and the Flora Tasmaniae (1853–1859). They were "splendidly" illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch.

<i>Botany of Lord Aucklands Group and Campbells Island</i>

The Botany of Lord Auckland's Group and Campbell's Island is a description of the plants discovered in those islands during the Ross expedition written by Joseph Dalton Hooker and published by Reeve Brothers in London between 1844 and 1845. Hooker sailed on HMS Erebus as assistant surgeon. It was the first in a series of four Floras in the Flora Antarctica, the others being the Botany of Fuegia, the Falklands, Kerguelen's Land, Etc. (1845–1847), the Flora Novae-Zelandiae (1851–1853), and the Flora Tasmaniae (1853–1859). They were "splendidly" illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch.

Pterostylis puberula, commonly known as the dwarf greenhood or snail greenhood is a species of orchid which is endemic to New Zealand. It has a rosette of pale yellowish, stalked leaves and a single silvery-white and green flower with relatively long, erect lateral sepals.

<i>Thelymitra pulchella</i> Species of orchid

Thelymitra pulchella, commonly called the striped sun orchid, is a species of orchid in the family Orchidaceae that is endemic to New Zealand. It has a single erect, fleshy, channelled leaf and up to fourteen blue flowers with darker stripes on the petal and sometimes also on the sepals. The column and its lobes are variable in shape and colour.

<i>Adenochilus gracilis</i> Species of flowering plant

Adenochilus gracilis is a species of plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New Zealand. It has a long, thin underground rhizome, a single leaf on the flowering stem and a single white flower with glandular hairs on the outside. Its labellum has red to maroon bars and a central band of yellow calli, but is almost obscured by the dorsal sepal.

<i>Myosotis capitata</i> Species of flowering plant

Myosotis capitata is a species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae, endemic to the Campbell and Auckland Islands of New Zealand. Joseph Dalton Hooker described the species in his 19th century work Flora Antarctica. Plants of this species of forget-me-not are perennial and erect, and have ebracteate inflorescences and blue corollas. It is one of two native species of Myosotis in the New Zealand subantarctic islands, the other being M. antarctica, which can also have blue corollas.

<i>Carex erebus</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex erebus is a member of the sedge family and is found on the Antarctic Islands of Australia and New Zealand.

Puccinellia stricta is a species of grass known by the common names Australian saltmarsh grass, and Marshgrass. It was first described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1853 as Glyceria stricta from a specimen collected at Akaroa, but was assigned to the genus, Puccinellia, in 1930 by Carl Hilding Blom. It is native to New Zealand and Australia, where it is found in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

<i>Glossostigma elatinoides</i> Species of aquatic plant

Glossostigma elatinoides, also known as small mud-mat, is a flowering plant in the family Phrymaceae and grows in eastern states of Australia. It is a small aquatic or terrestrial herb with mauve flowers.

<i>Brachyscome radicata</i> Species of flowering plant

Brachyscome radicata, commonly known as spreading daisy, is a flowering perennial herb in the family Asteraceae. It has yellow flowers and leaves forming a rosette at the base and grows in Tasmania and New Zealand.

<i>Ourisia caespitosa</i> Species of flowering plants

Ourisia caespitosa, or creeping mountain foxglove, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae that is endemic to New Zealand. Joseph Dalton Hooker described O. caespitosa in 1853. Plants of this species of New Zealand foxglove are perennial herbs that are mostly glabrous (hairless), with trilobed or irregularly notched leaves that are tightly packed along a creeping stem. It is listed as Not Threatened.

References

  1. ↑ Joseph Dalton Hooker (1844). Flora Antarctica, Volume 1, Parts 1-2, Flora Novae-Zelandiae - The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the years 1839–1843. London: Reeve Brothers – via the Internet Archive.
  2. ↑ "The Erebus voyage". Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. Archived from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  3. ↑ Curtis, Winifred M. (1972). "Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton (1817–1911)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . Vol. 4. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN   978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN   1833-7538. OCLC   70677943.
  4. ↑ David Goyder; Pat Griggs; Mark Nesbitt; Lynn Parker; Kiri Ross-Jones (2012). "Sir Joseph Hooker's Collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" (PDF). Curtis's Botanical Magazine. 29 (1): 66–85. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8748.2012.01772.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-08. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  5. 1 2 3 J.D. Hooker (1844). Flora Antarctica, Volume 1, Parts 1-2, Flora Novae-Zelandiae. pp. v–vii.
  6. ↑ Frodin, David G. (14 June 2001). Guide to Standard Floras of the World: An Annotated, Geographically Arranged Systematic Bibliography of the Principal Floras, Enumerations, Checklists and Chorological Atlases of Different Areas. Cambridge University Press. p. 385. ISBN   978-1-139-42865-1.
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