85 species not peculiar to New Zealand, no less than 215 are
Australian, but a considerable number of these are also Antarctic, South
American, or European; so that there are only about 100 _species_
absolutely confined to New Zealand and Australia, and, what is important as
indicating a somewhat recent immigration, only some half-dozen of these
belong to _genera_ which are peculiar to the two countries, and hardly any
to the larger and more important Australian genera. Many, too, are rare
species in both countries and are often alpines.

Far more important are the relations of the genera and families of the two
countries. All the Natural Orders of New Zealand are found in Australia
except three--Coriariae, a widely-scattered group found in South Europe,
the Himalayas, and the Andes; Escallonieae, a widely distributed group; and
Chloranthaceae, found in Tropical Asia, Japan, Polynesia, and South
America. Out of a total of 310 New Zealand genera, no less than 248 are
Australian, and sixty of these are almost peculiar to the two countries,
only thirty-two however being absolutely confined to them.[127] In the
three large orders--Compositae, Orchideae, and Gramineae, the genera are
almost identical in the two countries, while the species--in the two former
especially--are mostly distinct.

Here then we have apparently a wonderful resemblance between the New
Zealand flora and that of Australia, indicated by more than two-thirds of
the non-peculiar species, and more than nine-tenths of the non-peculiar
genera (255) being Australian. But now let us look at the other side of the
question.

There are in Australia seven great genera of plants, each containing more
than 100 species, all widely spread over {490} the country, and all highly
characteristic Australian forms,--Acacia, Eucalyptus, Melaleuca,
Leucopogon, Stylidium, Grevillea, and Hakea. These are entirely absent from
New Zealand, except one species of Leucopogon, a genus which also has
representatives in the Malayan and Pacific Islands. Sixteen more Australian
genera have over fifty species each, and of these eight are totally absent
from New Zealand, five are represented by one or two species, and only two
are fairly represented; but these two--Drosera and Helichrysum--are very
widespread genera, and might have reached New Zealand from other countries
than Australia.

But this by no means exhausts the differences between New Zealand and
Australia. No less than seven