Köwhai herbarium sheet

There are five identifying marks on the herbarium sheet and these are described below from top to bottom and left to right.

The top green-ink stamp of the words 'COLLECTED IN NEW ZEALAND COOK'S FIRST VOYAGE' and 'BANKS & SOLANDER 1769-1770' was added to the sheet sometime in the 1980s by the National Museum in New Zealand.

On the bottom of the sheet, a glued oblong section has the words 'Sophora tetraptera' and 'mscr' (an abbreviation of 'manuscript') written in red ink by Daniel Solander on his return to England. Beneath Solander's script are the words 'laid in (1833)' written in black ink, probably by a curator at the Natural History Museum in London.

To the right, in the centre bottom, written directly on the sheet, are the words 'Sophora tetraptera J.Mill' and beneath it the words 'Var. Grandiflora B&S'. Both these marks were written by New Zealand botanist Thomas Kirk - in 1895 he had requested the specimens be sent to New Zealand to assist him in writing his book 'Student's Flora of New Zealand and the Outlaying Islands'. 'J.Mill' refers to the English botanist who authored the botanical name for köwhai in 1780, and 'Var. Grandiflora B&S' refers to the variety name given to the plant by Banks and Solander.

Kirk has also written the words 'Banks Solander' at the very bottom of the sheet.

To the right and slightly above Kirk's writing is another National Museum of New Zealand stamp added sometime in the 1980s. It is in blue ink and reads 'NATIONAL MUSEUM HERBARIUM' and 'WELLINGTON 63797a NEW ZEALAND' - the numerals comprise an object registration number, which appears on all herbarium specimen sheets.