Handbook of the New Zealand Flora

Published in 1864 and 1867, this two-volume botanical index provides a detailed and thorough description of New Zealand flora.

Compiled by the celebrated Victorian botanist and explorer Joseph Hooker, this two-volume catalogue of the flora of New Zealand was the first major study of plant life of the area. First published in 1864, Volume 1 begins Hooker's exhaustive list of species encountered during his three-year voyage.Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911), botanist, explorer, and director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, is chiefly remembered as a close friend and colleague of Darwin, his publications on geographical distribution of plants supporting Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. In 1839 Hooker became an assistant surgeon on HMS Erebus during Ross' Antarctic expedition. The boat wintered along the New Zealand coast, Tasmania and the Falkland Islands, enabling Hooker to collect over 700 plant species. Drawing heavily on Hooker's illustrated Flora Novae Zelandiae (1854–1855), this two-volume work (1864–1867) contains a comprehensive list of New Zealand plant species as well as those of the Chatham, Kermadec, Auckland, Campbell and Macquarrie Islands. As the first major study of New Zealand flora, Hooker's handbook remained the authority on the subject for half a century. Volume 1 begins Hooker's exhaustive list of species encountered during his three-year voyage.