Plate 3 Calystegia tuguriorum (bindweed)

There are five species of Calystegia in New Zealand. Calystegia tuguriorum is found on the Three Kings Islands, North, South, Stewart and the Chatham Islands. It also occurs in South America. The white-to-pink petals are fused into a trumpet shape. At the base of each flower, and enclosing it at the bud stage, can be seen two green floral bracts. These are characteristic of the genus, which comprises about ten species. Sydney Parkinson made the painting while the Endeavour was in Poverty Bay in October 1769. It was completed by J. F. Miller in 1773.

Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History)

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Plate 4 Mueblenbeckia complexa (tororaro or pohuehue)

Plates 4 to 7 are engravings made from Sydney Parkinson's illustrations. His original watercolour of this plant was completed in 1775 by John Cleveley. The specimen was collected at Tolaga Bay in October 1769. Tororaro is a member of the Polygonaceae, a family that includes docks, sorrels and rhubarb. There are about twenty species of Mueblenbeckia, which occur in Australasia and South America; five of them are found in New Zealand. This species grows in dryish places as a tangled bush or low climber in coastal, lowland and lower montane forests, especially on their margins, as well as in open and rocky places. The small leaves have blades from a half to two centimetres long and are of variable shape, often with several leaf forms on the one plant, as the illustration shows. There are separate male and female flowers on different plants.

The plant illustrated is a female one, with flowers and fruits. A male flower, detached from a male plant, is shown at lower right. Muehlenbeckia flowers are very distinctive. Five perianth parts (not clearly differentiated into separate sepals and petals) are fused into a basal cup, which surrounds the stamens in male flowers and the ovary in female flowers. On top of the ovary of each female flower are three frilly stigmas. As the fruit ripens in the centre of a female flower, the translucent, white perianth becomes fleshy. The fruit is a shiny black, triangular nut.

Courtesy of the Director, National Museum, Wellington

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