10 Pitcher, Remarks on Ferns. [v^'r^'xxx. 



Two of the three genera of this tribe are found in Victoria — 

 viz., Cyathea and Alsophila. The genus C'yathea is repre- 

 sented by two species. C. meditllaris. Black Tree Fern, is a 

 handsome plant with a trunk attaining to a height of fifty feet 

 and fronds ten to fifteen feet in length. The trunk and l)ases 

 of stipes are mostly jet black, especially in plants from New 

 Zealand, where also it is found. The pinnae are of light green 

 colour. Some fine specimens are to be seen in the Botanic 

 Gardens Fern Gully. The second species, C. Cunninghami, 

 Slender Tree Fern, is also a beautiful and rather scarce fern. 

 It is sometimes called the " Rat-tailed Tree Fern," owing to 

 its thin and light-l)rown-coloured trunk. The fronds are not 

 so long as in the preceding species. A few years ago two fine 

 specimens, each about fifteen feet in height, were obtained for 

 the Botanic Gardens by a friend of mine in a very secluded 

 gully in the Boolarra district. South Gippsland. They were 

 carefully wrapped in canvas, and brought by pack-horse to 

 the railway station. One of them subsequently died, but the 

 other is still doing well on the east side of the fern gully in the 

 Gardens. 



The genus Alsophila has only one representative — A. auslralis. 

 Prickly Tree Fern — which, while one of the commonest, is one 

 of the most beautiful of our Victorian tree ferns. It is to be 

 found both in the gullies and on the slopes of most of the 

 timbered mountain valleys throughout the State. Its trunk 

 varies from a few inches to fifty feet in height, and, although it 

 succeeds and gives a distinctive setting to landscapes after the 

 timber and scrub under which it originally grew have been 

 destroyed, it is in sheltered valleys, either as single specimens 

 or in masses, that this fern is to be found in its greatest beauty. 

 I shall never forget the great pleasure experienced at my first 

 sight of this and other tree-ferns as I journeyed from Heales- 

 viile to Fernshaw on the box seat of the coach some thirty 

 years ago, and I have ever since been an ardent admirer and 

 grower of tree-ferns. If one wishes to see these tree-ferns in 

 abundance and natural beauty within an easy distance of 

 Melbourne, I would suggest a trip along the recently-constructed 

 road from Warburton to Mount Donna Buang. The grade of 

 the road is i in 15, and can be easily traversed either on foot 

 or by motor or other vehicle. All the way along one j^iasses 

 through beautiful scenery, while fern valley after fern valley of 

 increasing grandeur is crossed, until, at the 5 1 -mile blaze, 

 Cement Creek is reached. At this spot, which has been 

 selected as the half-way resting-place on the road, giant 

 eucalypts and huge moss-clothed, gnarled native beeches, 

 Fag'iis Ciinninghami, surrounded with the usual fern-gully 

 vegetation, are to be seen in all their magnificence. One of 



