Plate 41 Coprosma repens (taupata)

This common coastal plant is named as Coprosma baueriana in Forest Flora. The species name repens meaning "creeping" is something of a misnomer. It received the name because it was described from a collection made by the French expedition of Dumont d'Urville in 1827, who found a prostrate form of taupata clinging to coastal rocks. It varies, depending largely on habitat, from a shrub to a tree up to eight metres high. There are separate male and female flowers, which are usually borne on different plants. The ripe "berries" (drupes) are orange-red and up to one centimetre in diameter. Taupata occurs in coastal regions of the North Island and as far south as Banks Peninsula in the South Island, and on Three Kings and Kermadec Islands. Blair's illustration (from which rather distracting magnified drawings of flowers and fruits have been deleted) shows foliage with female (1) and male flowers and young flower buds (2). He has, with the minimum of shading, shown nicely the convexity of upper leaf surfaces. A characteristic feature of Coprosma (and some other unrelated native plant genera) not shown in the illustrations, although they would have been clearly visible, are leaf domatia. These are small pits, of unknown function, opening on the underside of the leaves. The opening to each domatium is located in the acute angle formed above the junction of the mid-rib and a lateral vein. Taupata is a popular hedge plant in coastal areas.

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Plate 42 Agathis australis (kauri)

The kauri is named as Dammara australis in Forest Flora. Hugh Boscawen's illustrations show foliage and two immature (top) and mature female cones. Kauri, the largest tree in the New Zealand flora, occurs naturally in the north of the North Island, with its southern limits near Kawhia and Tauranga.

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Plate 43 Podocarpus ferrugineus (miro)

The illustrations shows male cones (1) and female fructifications (2). An unattractive feature of this plate, which occurs in some of E. J. Graham's other ones, is that in parts (for example, upper left) background stippling is used instead of showing leaves that are partly obscured by leaves lying above. Miro is a widely distributed lowland forest tree, up to thirty metres in height, occurring throughout North, South and Stewart Islands. Some authorities consider that Prumnopitys ferruginea is the valid name for the miro.

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Plate 44 Geum uniflorum

The plant shown was collected from the mountains above Arthur's Pass, Canterbury, at 1,200 metres. A member of the rose family (Rosaceae), Geum uniflorum is confined to alpine regions of the South Island from the Nelson district southwards at altitudes of 900 to 1,700 metres. Professor W. R. Philipson {Rock Garden Plants of the Southern Alps, 1962) considered it among the best alpine plants we have to offer. It flourishes in wet habitats — peaty herbfields and damp rocky ledges. It has creeping stems that end in a rosette of leaves with hairy margins. The leaves are a glossy green when young and often turn a deep crimson as they age. Each flower is borne singly on a long stalk and has white petals, red stamens and a crimson mass of carpels in the centre.

Figure 1, petal (x2); figures 2 and 3 are internal and external views of a stamen (x6); figure 4, a carpel (x6); figure 5, side view of a flower after the petals have fallen (x2); figure 6, a fruit (x8) and figure 7, a longitudinally halved fruit, showing the single, basally attached seed within (x8).

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Plate 45 Pachystegia insignis (Marlborough rock daisy)

At the time of the Illustrations, this shrub was known as Olearia insignis. The name was changed to Pachystegia by Cheeseman when he prepared the second edition of Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Pachystegia means "thick covering" and refers to the large number of regularly arranged bracts that clothe the bud (shown at centre). It is one of our most attractive shrubs and is widely cultivated. It is restricted to the northeast of the South Island from the Wairau River in Marlborough to Waiau in Canterbury. Although Pachystegia is common on limestone cliffs in the Kaikoura region, it also occurs inland. Recent work has indicated that there are at least six different forms of Pachystegia, and further studies may result in several species being recognised. Pachystegia reaches two metres in height.

An unusual feature of this plate is the inclusion of a sketch of an entire plant, made from a photograph Cheeseman sent to Matilda Smith. The specimen was obtained from the Awatere Valley, Marlborough. Leaves are leathery, glossy, dark-green above and white below. Each "flower", as in all Compositae, is actually an aggregation of many flowers (florets). The "flowers" have white spreading rays, forming large outer petals around a yellow centre.

Figure 1, outer ray floret (x3); figure 2, a more central disc floret (x3); figures 3 and 4, a pappus hair from the outside of a ray floret and a disc floret, respectively; figure 5, three stamens (x8); figure 6, stigmatic region to which pollen adheres at the centre of each floret (x8); and figure 7, a young plant, reduced from a photograph.

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Plate 46 Celmisia hectori (alpine daisy)

This plant is confined to alpine regions (1,300 to 2,000 metres in altitude) of the southern half of the South Island. The prostrate stems branch profusely and bend upwards to end in tight masses of densely hairy leaves, silver above and whitish below. A single plant can be a metre or more in diameter. The "flowers" resemble Pachystegia in having white petals and a yellow centre. The Plate is a fine example of the lithographer's skill. Flowers and lowermost leaves have been given a bolder outline to emphasise the fine hairy upper leaves and flower stalks.

Figure 1, bract from underneath the "flower" (x3); figure 2, an outer ray floret (x3); figure 3, a pappus hair from the outside of a ray floret (enlarged considerably from figure 2 but magnification not stated); figures 4 and 5, disc florets (x3, x4); figure 6, three stamens; figure 7, stigmatic region from the centre of a floret (x8). The specimen was obtained from Mt Ollivier, in the Mt Cook district, at an altitude of 1,800 metres.

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Plate 47 Dracophyllum recurvum

There are thirty-five native species of Dracophyllum, members of the Epacridaceae, related to the true heath family (Ericaceae). Dracophyllum recurvum is a low prostrate or semi-erect shrub, about a metre in diameter, with distinctive, recurved, bluish-green leaves, which are crowded at the tips of branches. Confined to the North Island in subalpine to alpine regions at 900 to 1,500 metres, it is particularly common in Tongariro National Park but occurs too on Mt Hikurangi and the Kaimanawa and Ruahine Ranges. The small white flowers are in groups of four to ten. Cheeseman obtained this specimen from the base of Mt Ruapehu at 1,050 metres.

Figure 1, leaf (x2); figure 2, flower (x5); figure 3, an internal view of an opened petal tube (corolla) to which the five stamens are attached (x5); figure 4, centre of flower with petals removed (x5); figure 5, one of the scales (nectary ?) that surround the ovary — see figure 4 — (x7); figure 6, a sectioned ovary showing how the ovules (potential seeds) are arranged like bunches of grapes (x5); figure 7, a ripe capsule, formed from the ovary (x5); figure 8, seed (x8).

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