Kirk. — On New Zealand Farms of Cheilanthes. 247 



Akt. XLII. — On the New Zealand Forms of Clieilantlies. 

 By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 

 [Read hefore the AiicTclcmd Institute, 4d:li August, 1873.] 

 While I'ecently waiting at Lyttelton for the departure of the steamer, in 

 company with Mr. S. 0. Farr, I took the opportunity of examining the rocks 

 in the immediate vicinity, when we had the good fortune to find a tuft or two 

 of the typical form of Cheilanthes temdfolia, Swartz, a plant new to me, and 

 ofiei'ing a marked contrast to C. sieberi, Kunze, which is so abundant amongst 

 the scoria in the neighbourhood of Auckland, and in other localities in the 

 Korth Island. I ascertained that the same plant had been collected by 

 Mr. Potts on another part of Banks Peninsula, and Mr. Farr informed me 

 that he had seen it in other places ; but I am not aware of its having been 

 noticed in the colony by other observers since its first discovery by Dr. Lyall, 

 possibly on the spot where it was seen by us, and where it grows associated 

 with the handsome Senecio saxifragoides. 



The only positive statements I can find of the occurrence of our plant in 

 New Zealand are under the description of the species in " Species Filicum" 

 \'Yol. II., p. 82), where it is recorded by Sir William Hooker as having been 

 fou^d on Banks Peninsula by Dr. Lyall ; and in " Synopsis Filicum," where 

 it is simply stated to be a native of New Zealand. In the " Flora of New 

 Zealand" Dr. Hooker uses the name C. " tenuifolia" Swartz, but remarks, 

 " the figure of C. sieberi in ' Species Filicum' resembles the New Zealand 

 plant ;" although from his describing the frond as "rarely deltoid," he doubtless 

 had Dr. Ly all's specimens before him. ' In the Handbook, after describing, at 

 p. 362, the ordinary New Zealand plant as C. tenuifolia, var. sieberi, Dr. Hooker 

 remarks, at page 748, " This is usually kept as a distinct species — 0. sieberi, 

 Kunze." It is probably from this cause, coupled with its rarity in the 

 colony, that New Zealand botanists have so completely lost sight of our plant, 

 that no mention of it was made in the Catalogue of Ferns issued by the 

 Geological Survey Department two or three years ago. I may add that I have 

 no knowledge of any specimens in local herbaria, except those to which 

 reference is now made. 



C. tenuifolia, Swartz, and C. sieberi, Kvinze, ai'e considered distinct by 

 Mr. Baker in " Synopsis Filicum," but ai-e certainly of close affinity. Still 

 the difi"erence in the appearance of the two forms, together with the i-emarkable 

 localization of the first-named, render it desii'al)le that the attention of New 

 Zealand botanists should be drawn to the re-discovery of our plant. 



At first sight G. tenuifolia is easily recognized by its deltoid fronds and 

 long ascending pinnules ; C. sieberi by its narrow, almost lanceolate fronds, and 



