Art. LXVII.—Notice of the Occurence of Juncus tenuis, Wild, in New Zealand.

By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S.

[Read before the Auckland Institute, 7th October, 1878.]

Since the publication of the “Handbook” several species of Juncus have been added to the New Zealand Flora—two of which, J. glaucus, L, and J. lamprocarpus, Ehr.—are well-known European plants. I have now to record the discovery of Juncus tenuis, Wild., also a common CentralEuropean and North American species. My specimens were collected in January, 1875, near Omano, about 25 miles above Kaihu, on the Northern Wairoa River. The plant was abundant in some marshy ground not far from the bank of the river; but curiously enough, during the hurried examination I was able to make of the Wairoa district, I did not observe it either higher up or lower down the river, although suitable localities are sufficiently abundant.

So many European plants are becoming naturalized in the colony that additional evidence will be required before Juncus tenuis can be included in the list of our indigenous species. It certainly seems improbable that a plant with such a wide range in the northern hemisphere should be found in New Zealand alone in the southern; but too much stress cannot be placed on this argument, as a precisely similar case exists in Carex pyrenaica, which no one doubts being a true native of New Zealand. It must be borne in mind that our plant is not a native of any part of the British Islands, from whence the majority of our naturalized species are derived; and the locality