PARTS OF FERNS. i? 



Sometimes fronds are " forked," or divided into several branches ; and at others they 

 have the ends of the frond itself, and of the pinnae, divided in'o tassels, and are then 

 called " crested." In other cases, again, parts of the frond are diminished in size, or 

 altogether wanting, and these fronds are said to be "depauperated." In these ways 

 very curious variations of form occur. They are less frequent in our N. Z. ferns than 

 in English ones ; but still they are occasionally met with, and. appear to be often 

 merely accidental. In England. such varying forms have been transplanted and culti- 

 vated ; and thus the varieties have become fixed, and multiplied in number. In one 

 case, a N. Z. fern (Aspidium aculeatum) became beautifully crested in my greenhouse ; 

 but the effort seemed to exhaust the plant, and it died ; but I have now two slightly 

 crested plants of Pteris tremula, and some others with foliage curled almost like 

 parsley. Mr. Colenso records branched forms of Asplenium f^abellifolium, and Lo- 

 maria fluviatilis ; the late Mr. Potts found a branched form of Lomaria procera ; and 

 I lately saw similar ones, as well as crested forms of Dicksonia squarrosa, Lomaria 

 discolor, Lomaria alpina, Asplenium falcatum, Aspidium aculeatum, Aspidium Richardi, 

 and Nephrodium molle in cultivation at Christchurch and Dunedin. These abnormal 

 forms seem more common in the Middle Island than in the Northern one, or they have 

 been more sought for and preserved. Near Dunedin there is a form of Aspidium 

 aculeatum, which was till lately supposed to be confined to Tasmania. It has buds all 

 along the upper side of the rachis, and each bud will produce a fresh plant. Another 

 form of the same fern produces one large bud, on the under side of the rachis, just 

 where the lateral pinnae end, and the terminal one begins. This bud produces fronds, 

 and as the original or parent frond begins to wither the weight of the bud bends its 

 end down to the ground ; when the bud takes root, and a fresh plant results. An 

 English florist advertises crested forms of Lomaria discolor and Aspidium Richardi ; 

 though how he obtained them is not known. At intervals of many years, some plants 

 of Polypodium Billardieri produce bipinnatifid fronds, instead of merely pinnatifid ones, 

 and are most lovely in appearance. I have one such at present, and purpose raising 

 plants from the spores of the bipinnatifid fronds, to see if the type can be fixed : as 

 has been done in the case of the English Polypody, a similar form of which, known as 

 " variety Cambricum," has been thus perpetuated. 



I have so often been asked my opinion on what is called " Darwinism," and 

 whether it is borne out by our N. Z. ferns, that it may be well here to state the result 

 of my observations. Transition forms of species of the same genus are constantly 

 found, and are often difficult to class : even sub genera seem to merge in one another ; 

 and occasionally a plant of one genus may, at first sight, be mistaken for one of 

 another. Thus at Dunedin there is a form of Hemitelia Smithii so exaftly like 

 Cyathea medullaris, with white scales instead of black, that almost any one might be 

 deceived by it : yet the normal forms of the plants are totally unlike, and the latter 



