Illustrations
In this Flora there are three kinds of illustrations; first are 24 line drawings of flowers and their surrounding organs, 21 reflecting the tribes of grasses in New Zealand, and a further three to illustrate subtribes of significance to New Zealand agrostology. All were drawn by Sabrina B. Malcolm except Figure 1 drawn by Pat A. Brooke. Secondly there are 16 paintings of florets of species of Rytidosperma; the originals by Keith R. West were intended to accompany our 1979 paper on Rytidosperma (N.Z. J. Bot. 17: 311-337) but were judged at the time to be expensive to print and to add limited scientific value to the text. They have lain awaiting a suitable opportunity and vehicle; twenty years later part of our original plan is attained and West's paintings are published.
An essential part of any flora is the presentation of accurate habitat and ecological details for each of the taxa described. In the third form of illustration in this Flora, the colour photographs (Plates 1-10) of Peter N. Johnson illustrate how both native and naturalised grasses may dominate landscapes. An array of habitat and portrait photographs is indicative of the many environments which grasses occupy, and of their diversity in growth habit. Ecologically important genera such as Chionochloa and Poa are featured by a selection of their species, and the bases of tillers in species of Chionochloa show diagnostic characters just as West's paintings (Plates 11 and 12) do for Rytidosperma florets.
Our gratitude to our illustrators can only match their quality.
