REPORT OX THE BOTANY OF THE ISLANDS <>F THE SOUTHERN OCEAN. 165 



the one island of the group, is very distinct, and deserves the rank of an independent 

 species more than many forms retained as such. It is remarkable for the great substance 

 of its fronds, and for the rhachis being densely clothed throughout with large, chaffy scales, 

 while in the ordinary form it is naked. It is farther the most striking member of the 

 order inhabiting the island, being the only one that is arboreous in habit of growth ; hence 

 Thouars's specific name of " palmceformis." The author named states that the caudex is 

 sometimes two feet high and four inches in diameter ; and Carmichael, whose notes are in 

 most instances much too short, writes as follows : "This beautiful fern is more generally 

 scattered than most of the others, being found in all moist places from the tableland down 

 to the plain. The trunk grows to the length of four or five feet, sometimes erect, but 

 usually lying on the ground, with its apex only upright. Though not above two inches 

 in diameter, the stumps of the decayed fronds, with their thick scaly covering attached to 

 it, give it an apparent diameter of eight or nine inches. It is crowned with numerous 

 stiff fronds, from one to three feet in length, according to the age and situation of the plant. 

 The barren fronds form a spreading circle, within which, in the summer, five or six fertile 

 fronds shoot up in a perpendicular tuft." 



Blechnum australe, Linn. 



Blcchnum australe, Linn., Mant., i. p. 130; Swartz, Synop. Fil., p. Ill; Hook., Sp. Fil., iii. p. 56; 



Hook, and Bak., Synop. Fil., p. 186 ; Carmich. in Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., xii. p. 512 ; 



Thouars, Esquisse Fl. Trist., p. 33; Kuhn, Fil. Afr., p. 91. 

 Blechnum hastatum, Kaulf. Enum. Fil, p. 161. 



Tristan da Cunha. — In ravines — Carmichael; MacGillivray and Milne ; Moseley, 



Inaccessible Island. Moseley. 



Temperate South America, South Africa, Madagascar, Bourbon, St. Paul, and Ascension? 



Asplenium obtusatum, Forst. 



Asplenium obtusatum, Forst., Prodr., p. SO; Hook., Sp. Fil, iii. p. 96; Hook., Fil. Exot., t. 46; 



Hook, and Bak., Synop. Fil, p. 207. 

 Asplenium obliquum, Forst., 1. c. ; Sckk., Krypt. Gewachse, t. 71 ; Kuhn, Fil. Afr., p. 109; Carmich. 



in Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., xii. p. 512. 

 Asplenium crassum, Thouars, Escpaisse Fl. Trist., p. 33. 



Tristan da Cunha. — In the wood — Carmichael ; Moseley. Nightingale and 

 Inaccessible Islands. Moseley. 



As limited in Hooker and Baker's Synopsis, this is an exceedingly variable species, 

 including the very different-looking Asplenium lucidum, Forst. ; and it is very common in 

 Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia, occurring also in Peru and Chili. The form found 

 in the Tristan da Cunha group is much the same as that represented in Hooker's Filices 

 Exoticae, t. 4G, and the same one has lately been collected in the Crozets by Captain 

 J. N. East, 



