Ixx Ajjpendix. 



the Lairs which, cover the bases of the leaf-stalks of the large Cyathea I have 

 just mentioned, and which resembles the mamaii, or puru as it is called in the 

 Sandwich Islands, in colour. 



I do not 6nd that any of these are eatable in the young state, like 

 G. medullaris, but one of the species of A ngiopteris produces a curious sort of 

 sheathing process at the base of the fronds, which, when roasted, is very good 

 food for a hungry man — very solid and, I should think, nourishing. The 

 other species of Angio2)teris I have occasionally seen with leaves fifteen feet 

 long, and a root stock of a nearly spherical shape and two feet in diameter ; it 

 is, without exception, the most enormous fern I ever saw ; the leaves emit an 

 agreeable perfume when bruised or cut. I think thei-e are three species, but 

 am not certain if the one with somewhat digitately-b ranched leaves, which 

 I have only once seen in the valley of Pire, is different from the eatable one. 



I observe in the " Companion to the Bot. Mag." what I think must be an 

 error, although by whom or how made, I cannot at present point out. In the 

 " Specimen of the Botany of New Zealand," under the head of Gleichenia 

 hermanni, is appended an observation purporting to be by Forster, which can 

 only apply to the plant which I have always supposed to be Pteris esculenta, 

 and which is the common fern of New Zealand, growing everywhere and 

 universally eaten by the natives. I am nearly certain that they do not eat 

 the root of any species of Gleichenia, in fact the Gleichenias have small, hard, 

 wiry rhizomes. G. hermanni is the common fern of Tahiti ; I do not believe 

 the same species grows in New Zealand, and am sure that it is not eaten or 

 eatable in Tahiti, Again, under the head of Pteris esculenta, is attached a 

 doubt if it is a native of New Zealand, and it is stated that Forster gathered it 

 at Tahiti. Now, if I am right with regard to the identity of Pteris esculenta 

 with the common fern of New Zealand, no such sjjecies of Pteris grows in Tahiti, 

 nor do the natives of this island eat the rhizome of any Pteris whatever — at 

 least I have made every enquiry among the natives, and am also assured that 

 it has not been met with by either one of four very industrious collectors 

 (French officers) who have been in the habit of making botanical excursions 

 for the last two or three years whenever their customary avocations permitted, 

 and I have often heard fi-om them expressions of wonder as to what the 

 Pteris esculenta of the catalogue could be. I tliei:"efore think that there must 

 have been some changing of labels or mixture of specimens, which has led to 

 a confusion of two very different species of plants. 



Among the few eatable plants peculiar to the South Sea Islands, and 

 apparently indigenous in Tahiti, may be mentioned, as deserving the first rank 

 from its utility, the fei (fe-i), Musafehi of Bertuo. This plant in many places 

 covers the mountain sides almost to the exclusion of every other vegetable, 

 and forms a great portion of the food of tlie natives at all times of the year. 



