140 
~ VARIATION IN NEW ZEALAND FERNS. 
By H. C. Fretp. 
I wave thought that the following notes respecting our New 
ealand Ferns may interest some of those who give attention to 
isposed 
depauperated ones; while Steins ae of 2 a crimson, and 
copper-colour are very co and hardly any two plants are 
exactly alike in texture anid. phiatnctor of foliage. But one of the 
striking 
to occur in creeping and non-creeping forms. Nephrodium decom- 
positum, for instance, creeps rapidly, and s a covers a — 
of ground ; while its var. glabellum will ne spread six inches 
oO 
ae of a —— pot; and in one part of the colony (Tuhua) 
this fern occurs as a distinctly-tufted plant, and in large specimens 
develops a stout ‘sitibad caudex like that of the Todeas. These 
gre io 
fernists as to how far they shonld be —— as constituting new 
varieties, saree as there is sufficient difference in the foliage 
to enable the kinds to be at once distinguished. The foliage of the 
creeping Davallia is wiry, and the frond rarely more than a foot 
high and of ovate- lanceolate form; while t € non-creeping one is 
often three feet high, with briangula —— and thin texture. 
ranges from merely pinnate, with entire or oy oust ante d edges, 
to tripinnate, ioe deep narrow poo like those of A. Colensot, an 
often difficult 0 class the plant, a thin and plumose forms. 
A, flaccidum again varies greatly, some a appearing like merely 
