Thomas Kirk, botanist and the first curator of the Auckland Museum, discovered a new species of Isoetes (I. alpina) on a tour to the Waikato with his friend, and Institute member, Captain Hutton.
Kirk presented his findings at the Institute’s general monthly meeting on 18 October 1869.
He found other new species of quillwort in 1876 in ‘our central and alpine lakes’. You can see one of those specimens here.