The Vegetation of New Zealand

About this book

A reprint of a classical work in the Cambridge Library Collection.

When botanist Leonard Cockayne (1855-1934) first received an invitation from the German publisher Engelmann to write an account of the botany of New Zealand, much of it was still unknown. He spent the period from 1904 to 1913 immersed in fieldwork, and his first edition was not published until 1921. In this 1928 second edition Cockayne extensively updates the text, adding the results of further research from the intervening years. This work gives detailed descriptions of New Zealand's plant life, but Cockayne also considers the history of botanical study of the islands, from Captain Cook's voyages in the eighteenth century onwards, and includes the arrival of colonial plant collectors and an overview of important publications by New Zealand botanists. The descriptions of vegetation cover the sea coast, the lowlands, mountains, and outlying islands, and there are extensive photographs, offering a comprehensive guide to New Zealand's botany.

Contents

Preface
Preface to the second edition


Part I. Introduction
1. Preliminary remarks
2. History of botanical investigation
3. Bibliography
4. Sketch of the leading physiographical features of the region
5. The climate of New Zealand


Part II. The Vegetation of Primitive and Semi-Primitive New Zealand

Section I. The Vegetation of the Sea-Coast
1. General observations on the coastal-vegetation
2. The leading physiognomic plants and their life-forms
3. The autecology of the coastal plants
4. The plant communities

Section II. The Vegetation of the Lowlands and Lower Hills: 1. Introductory remarks
2. The leading physiognomic plants and their life-forms
3. The autecology of the lowland plants
4. The plant committee

Section III. The Vegetation of the High Mountains: 1. General remarks
2. The leading physiognomic plants and their life-forms
3. The autecology of the high-mountain plants
4. The plant communities

Section IV. The Vegetation of the Outlying Islands: 1. The vegetation of the Kermadee Islands
2. The vegetation of the Chatham Islands
3. The vegetation of the subantarctic islands


Part III. The Effect of Settlement upon the Plant-Covering of New Zealand
1. The introduced plants growing wild without cultivation
2. The new vegetation
3. Agriculture and horticulture in New Zealand


Part IV. The Flora of New Zealand, its Distribution and Composition
1. The botanical subdivisions of the region
2. The families, genera and elements of the flora


Part V. The History of the Flora: General
The problematical history of the flora

Index

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