GENERAL INTRODUCTION 7 



During the beating the fibres were picked out. The material 

 left behind bore some resemblance to arrowroot, but only the 

 pangs of hunger would induce the European to consider it 

 palatable. 



Though there are no other varieties which cover so wide an 

 area, yet the ferns form such a prominent feature in the 

 Flora, that New Zealand is often termed " The Land of 

 Ferns," and a fern frond has been taken as its emblem. 



Fig. 3 Tree Ferns. 



Perhaps there is no country of equal size outside of the 

 Tropics, which has such a large number of different kinds of 

 ferns as New Zealand, and possibly none could show greater 

 magnificence of fern-life. Prominent amongst the species are 

 the tree-ferns. These help to give the forest that semi-tropical 

 appearance, which will shortly be described. There are, 

 in addition, a large number of species of Filmy-Ferns, 

 (Hymenophyllum),Po\ypods, Aspleniums, and Lomarias. The 



