KOOTSTOCK OB' MAUATTT.V FRAXTXEA. 3 



of food ; but they liave never cultivated it in a systematic manner ; 

 they say that if a rootstock is smashed into numerous pieces 

 and thrown on the ground, ever}^ piece will form a new plant : 

 in this way they may have occasionally increased the number 

 by scattering portions about in places suited to its growth. It is 

 evident, however, that whether they used any means or not to 

 increase the plant, it is always rare wherever they themselves 

 are numerous ; and it is only in a few localities in the Avestern 

 part of the district, where there are few native settlements, that 

 it is abundant. 



AVhen ti'ansplanted to the southern parts of the North Island, 

 as at Wellington, this fern grows freely in rich dump soil on the 

 banlis of creeks under the shade of trees. 



At the commencement of the present year the Hon. AY. B. D, 

 Mantell received from Taranaki a sackful of what was called 

 pieces of the rootstock of the Uwipara (^Marattia fraxined)] they 

 appeared, from their uniformity in shape and covering of black 

 cuticular bark, to be more like distinct individual bodies than 

 broken pieces from a large mass. A number of these bodies 

 were planted out in the Botanical Crarden, Wellington, and a 

 number in Mr. Mantell's garden ; and I was induced to watch 

 the progress and method of their growth, and also to examine 

 the structure of the mature rootstock of tlie full-grown plant. 

 The following notes are therefore the result of observations made 

 on the New-Zealand species of this genus {M, fraxinea^ Sm.), as 

 to its method of reproduction by the root, which may add to 

 the present knowledge on this subject. 



The rootstock or rhizome of JIaraftia is described by Hooker 

 in the ' Flora of New Zealand' as " a large, rounded, hard, fleshy 

 mass as large as the head," and in the * Handbook of the New- 

 Zealand Flora ' as *^ a large tuberous rhizome." Again, DeYriese 

 and Harting, in their illustrated monograph of ferns, published at 

 Ley den in 1853, describe it as '^ a succulent, tuberous, irregularly 

 shaped mass, upon which the stems are articulated." 



As no additional information is given in the more recent acces- 

 sible work on ferns, 'Species Filicum,' of Hooker and Baker, I 

 now add the foUowinir. 



The rhizome or rootstock of the New-Zealand species is com- 

 posed of an irregular agglomerated mass of thick fleshy scales, 

 each scale being formed by the enlargement of a stipe-base, the 

 stipe separating by an articulation above the swelling after 



n 2 



