Dicksonia] I. — filices. 31 



Trunk tall, brown. Stipes smooth, pale- 

 brown. Sori rather small, 4-5 on 

 each segment 2. D. antarctica. 



Trunk short or O. Stipes smooth, pale. 

 Soi-i rather large, 6-10 on each 

 segment, filling it up 3. D. lanata. 



1. D. squarrosa, 8wart%. /?-cj<^-' ou^aJut^ 



Trunk 10-20 ft. high, slender, black or dark brown, clothed with 

 the persistent bases of old fronds. Fronds few, bi- or tri-pinnate, 

 6-10 ft. long, oblong-deltoid, very coriaceous. Stipes black, tubercled, 

 densely covered with soft spreading hairs intei-mingled with scales 

 ^-1 in. long; primary pinnae 10-30 in. long, 4-6 in. broad; secondary 

 3-4 in. long, \-\ in. broad, linear, sessile or stipitate ; segments 

 lanceolate-oblong, rigid, sterile toothed, fertUe deeply pinnatifid. 

 Sori large, 6-8 on a segment. 



Synonyms. — Trichomanes squarrosa, For si. ; Dioksonia fibrosa, 

 Col. ; D. intermedia, Ool. 



Mr. Kirk remarks on D. fibrosa. Col., which he makes a variety 

 of D. squarrosa : — " This differs from ordinary forms of the Austra^ 

 lian and Tasmanian plant in its smaller size, hairy rachis, more 

 compact habit, and less coriaceous texture, but these are not 

 characters on which specific distinctions can be based." (" N.Z. Inst. 

 Trans.," vol. x. app. p. 43.) 



This species occurs in the Chatham Islands, but does not 

 range outside the N.Z. region. It occurs abundantly in both 

 islands, from the extreme north to Stewart Island. The facility 

 ■with which it is cultivated renders it a favourite plant with fern 

 growers in other parts of the world, and, probably, were it not so 

 common here, it would be more grown than it is. In Otago it 

 occurs in bush and scrub from sea-level to 1,500 ft., and in Auckland 

 province (at the Thames) up to 2,000 ft. ; so that it is a hardy 

 species, and stands frost and snow better than it does a burning sun. 



2. D. antarctica, Lab. (WeU^onga of the Maories.) 

 Zo- (PI. I. fig. 4.) 



'^ Stem 10-20 ft. high, stout, 1-1| ft. diam., and densely clothed 

 with matted brown fibres. Fronds usually bipinnate, 4-10 feet long, 

 spreading, broadly lanceolate, coriaceous ; stipes very short, smooth ; 

 rachis and costae more or less pilose ; primary divisions 5-10 in. long, 

 l|-2 in. broad, narrowed into long points; secondary pinnae J- 1 in. 

 long, sessile, linear, acute ; segments oblong, acutely toothed. Sori 

 4-6 on each segment. 



D. sparmanniana. Col., has a very short stem, only rising a few 

 inches above the ground, obovate or cuneate fronds, and about four 

 small sori on each segment, in this and other respects resembling var. 

 Abrosa. It occurs in hilly, shaded forests on the western slopes of 



