306 Transactions. — Botany. 



Art. XL. — On a Bemarkable Variation in Lornaria lanceolata. 



By E. I. Kingsley. 



[Bead before the Nelson Philosophical Society, 28th March, 1892.] 



The plant which forms the subject of this short paper (and 

 of which I exhibit specimens) was collected by Mr. W. H. 

 Bryant and myself on the north-western slope of " Little 

 Ben," a hill whose altitude is about 2,884ft., and situate 

 some seven or eight miles up the Wairoa Eiver. 



Our visit was a very short one. We ascended the hill on 

 the morning of the 1st January last, and stayed one night 

 only, and this short stay was further limited by rain on the 

 forenoon of the 1st. Nevertheless we saw much of interest, 

 and the trip was thoroughly enjoyable. 



In a Well-wooded gully we found a number of plants of 

 Lornaria lanceolata, and in one spot, for a distance of about 

 three or four yards, we found the greater portion of them 

 showing a tendency to vary : some showed a bifurcate ten- 

 dency, others trifurcate, and in two cases a quadrifurcate 

 variation. We did not in any plant find every frond furcated, 

 but in one specimen I noticed eight fronds, both fertile and 

 sterile, which had varied in one direction or another. 



It was curious to notice that nowhere else could we dis- 

 cover any tendency to vary, although this species of Lornaria 

 was abundant. 



I communicated the fact to Mr. Kirk, and furnished him 

 with specimens, and he informs me that he has no previous 

 record of a tendency to vary in Lornaria lanceolata. 



Mr. W. H. Bryant is attempting to propagate this variety 

 from the spores. 



In the Wairoa Valley I also noticed a remarkable case of 

 reversion in Lseudopanax ferox. At about 12ft. from the 

 ground, in a tree whose diameter was over a foot, there is a 

 tuft of those peculiar and strikingly ornamental leaves of the 

 young-plant type. 



On the side of Little Ben I gathered a specimen of fungus 

 which Mr. Kirk tells me is new to New Zealand flora, and 

 has no near-allied species. 



The new Asplenium, A. Unuifolium, is also found growing 

 in the Wairoa Gorge. It was originally discovered at Takaka 

 (vide Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxiii., p. 421). 



Some very large manuka trees were also observed on Little 

 Ben, from 2ft. to 3ft. in diameter, the finest I ever saw. I do 

 not know if this is an unusual size. 



