HISTORY OP INTRODUCTION OF EXOTIC FERNS. 15 



recorded in my first Enumeration as coming from 

 Dr. Wallich, the only Superintendent of the Calcutta 

 garden who has the credit of having introduced any. 

 Indeed, with the exception of those from Ceylon, Kew 

 has received very few Ferns from Asia and the 

 adjacent islands, most of those now in cultivation 

 having been introduced by nurserymen or through 

 Continental gardens. Two or three were brought 

 from Hong-Kong, in 1850, by Mr. J. C. Braine, 

 including one which proved to be a new genus, and 

 to this I gave the name of Brainea in honour of its 

 introducer. 



Another tropical island in the Eastern hemisphere, 

 whence large additions have been made to the Fern 

 collection at Kew, is the Mauritius. The Botanic 

 Garden in that island has long enjoyed the reputation 

 of possessing a fine set of plants ; but until the year 

 1852, when it came under the able management 

 of the present Director, Mr. James Duncan, very 

 little correspondence was kept up with the gardens 

 of Europe. Mr. Duncan has, at considerable risk, 

 ransacked the forests of the island in quest principally 

 of Ferns, and has been very successful in transmitting 

 living plants to this country, enriching our gardens 

 with many fine species. 



The " Synopsis Filicum Capensis" of Pappe and 

 Eawson shows that the Fern Flora of Southern Africa 

 is extremely rich ; but up to the present time we 

 possess scarcely a dozen Cape species in our gardens, 

 and most of them have been raised from spores. 

 Alsophila Capcnsis and Lomaria, Capensis were intro- 

 duced in 1845 by Mr. Charles Zeyher, as also were 

 Lastrca athmantica and Cyathea Dregei from Natal 

 by Mr. J. Plant. 



