Discovery
Puka first came to European attention when William Colenso found a single tree growing at the head of Whangururu Bay in Northland (on the New Zealand mainland). This tree was protected by a fence, and declared sacred by Māori, who told Colenso that they had brought the tree from the Poor Knights Islands. Colenso made frequent visits to Whangaruru Bay over several years in the vain hope of procuring flowers and fruit. Colenso pointed out the tree to Dr Andrew Sinclair, (1794–1861), Colonial Secretary and naturalist, for whom the tree would eventually be named. Colenso and Sinclair sent specimens of the foliage to Kew. Later William Mair found the tree, and he eventually succeeded in procuring specimens of the leaves and fruit, which were forwarded to Dr Joseph Hooker at Kew. From these specimens the original description of the tree was made under the name Botryodendrum sinclairii.
Read more about this topic: Meryta Sinclairii
Famous quotes containing the word discovery:
“The gain is not the having of children; it is the discovery of love and how to be loving.”
—Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)
“The new supplants the old. Yet men’s minds are stuffed with outworn bunk. Educating the young in the latest findings of authorities and scholars in the social sciences is important. It is equally important to devise ways and means for aiding the middle-aged and old to reexamine hang-over unscientific doctrines and ideas in the light of recent discovery and research.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“The discovery of the North Pole is one of those realities which could not be avoided. It is the wages which human perseverance pays itself when it thinks that something is taking too long. The world needed a discoverer of the North Pole, and in all areas of social activity, merit was less important here than opportunity.”
—Karl Kraus (1874–1936)