360 Transactions. — Botany. 



name must therefore be changed as I have no doubt whatever as to its dis- 

 tinctness from the British plant. It has not, so far as I am aware, been 

 found in the Southern Provinces. 



Cystoptoris novce-zealandicE. This plant is certainly distinct from C.frarjilis, 

 Bernhardi, to which it has been referred by most authors. The plant is 

 always much smaller and more fragile with an erect underground miniature 

 branching caudex, and is always less divided than the European plant. The 

 indusium is often entirely absent from Canterbury specimens, and nearly 

 always becomes obsolete with age. I have examined large numbers of 

 British specimens together with living plants of the true C. frayilis, Bern- 

 hardi, and have found none approaching this. Some states of it, how- 

 ever, are much like C. dentata in aspect, but differ much in the rhizome and 

 sori. The description in the " Handbook," copied from the " Species Fili- 

 cum," was drawn up from European specimens, and does not apply to the 

 New Zealand plant. It is found from near the sea-level (close to Christ- 

 church) up to 4,800 feet or higher, but presents scarcely any variations, thus 

 offering another point of difference from the British plant, which is exceed- 

 ingly variable if I may judge from the numerous specimens in my own her- 

 barium. 



Dicksonia fibrosa. 1 am glad to find that Mr. Baker is disposed to admit 

 this old species of Colenso's. We have cultivated the Tasmanian D. ant- 

 arctica, and this for many years, and I have no hesitation in pronouncing 

 them distinct if examined m the living state, as all ferns ought to be before 

 any opinion is given as to their distinctness. 



D. antarctica is the fastest growing tree-fern we have as yet experi- 

 mented with. Plants only seven and a half years old from spores have made 

 trunks varying from 3 to 10 inches high and 3 to 4 inches through. It is 

 therefore likely that the rapidity of growth of tree-fern stems has been very 

 much under-estimated by most writers on ferns. 



Cheilanthes kirkii. An examination of cultivated plants of the true C. 

 tenuifolia, Swzs., has convmced me of the distinctness of the New Zealand 

 plant referred to that species by Mr. Kirk.* In my Sketch of the Flora of 

 Canterbury! I considered this to be a variety of C. sieberi ; but on further 

 consideration I am disposed to acknowledge it as a distinct species and to 

 attach to it the name of Mr. T. Kirk, who has done so much to increase our 

 knowledge of New Zealand plants. Very good descriptions of this and C. 

 sieberi will be found in the volume of the " Transactions " referred to above. 

 C. kirkii is rather a common plant in Canterbury, but appears to be some- 

 what rare in the North. 



* " Trans. N.Z. iDst.," Vol. VI., p. 247. 

 t " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," Vol. Xn., pp. 325-353. 



