Cataloguing the new world: Colenso’s Glossarium Botanicum: Novae Zelandiae

The unpublished Glossarium Botanicum: Novae Zelandiae, begun in 1838 by William Colenso, is the oldest extant manuscript by a resident New Zealand botanist. It was begun at a time when the Florae Insularum Novae Zelandiae Precursor of Allan Cunningham was in the process of being published, and when Cunningham and Colenso were botanising together in Northland. This article discusses the relationships between Colenso’s and Cunningham’s works. It is argued that Colenso modelled the manuscript on a notebook which Cunningham had with him in 1838, adding more information in 1841 when he obtained a copy of Cunningham’s paper. Material from Colenso’s East Coast journey was added either in 1842 or possibly later. An appendix identifies previously unrecorded Colenso localities from the Glossarium. A second appendix identifies approximate dates for the various published papers resulting from his East Coast journey.