38 DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 



curious and handsome mass of foliage is the result. The rhizome is creeping and 

 woolly, with small scales ; and the stipes woolly when young, but afterwards shining 

 brown, with very few scales. Costae also woolly when young. The lobes of the 

 pinnules fold right over, so as to cover the sori, and thus the pinnules appear very 

 narrow. I am not at all sure that this fern is not merely a more developed form of 

 the preceding one. Besides the above, there are several varieties. One of them 

 formerly called " Gleichenia circinata var. B hecistophylla " is more chaffy and woolly, 

 and has more drooping foliage. It is said to occur in fern land in the north, but I could 

 not get any certain information as to its doing so, though it might grow in wet scrub land. 

 It seems a connefting link. Another, " G dicarpa var. B Alpina," is a smaller, stouter 

 more compaft and more woolly form, which, as its name implies, is found in swamps 

 at high levels. A third form, which occurs near Wanganui, is very coarse, with dense 

 reddish brown wool all over the stipes and under surface of the frond. It is also more 

 compaft. A fourth small form, which occurs only in very wet places, has merely one 

 pair of pinnae branching right and left on top of the stipes, but not forking at all. 

 The pinnules are of extreme length, fully twice as large as ordinary. A bud at the top 

 of the stipes produces a second stipes and pair of pinnae ; and from this there some- 

 times arises a third ; but there is no further lateral growth. Another form known as 

 " variety Mendelii " is cultivated in England, and differs only from the ordinary one in 

 having pinnules of much greater length. I do not know whether it was found in 

 New Zealand or elsewhere, but think it worth naming. The frond in the plate shews 

 the secondary growth from two axils. Gleichenia dicarpa is easily cultivated. Cut 

 out a mass of the sphagnum moss containing it, in the winter season, and place it in a 

 zinc pot with a watertight bottom, keeping it well supplied with water. It is good to 

 have a hole or two high up the sides of the pot through which the water can escape 

 when it reaches their level, as it is not desirable to drown the rhizomes, though the 

 moss should be kept well wetted. The plant will bear both sun and wind, so is a 

 good one for outdoor growth, but will wither down for a time with winter frosts and 

 produce fresh fronds in spring. In the swamps on the North side of Cook's Straits, 

 at Mangaroa near Wellington, and around Ruapehu, I have seen large trafts covered 

 with this fern, exposed to the fiercest gales, and growing luxuriantly. It is found as 

 far South as Otago, and occurs also in Australia, Tasmania, New Caledonia, the Isle 

 of Pines and Malay Islands. Mr. Colenso's "Gleichenia punctulata" is more branched 

 or divided. Its underside is pale blue stippled with fawn-coloured dots, and it has 

 short dark red hairs in clusters. It has been found near the hot springs in Great 

 Barrier Island and on the West Coast of the Middle Island. 



SUB-GENUS MERTENSIA. 

 In Mertensia the sori occur near the middle, or at a forking, of veinlets ; the 



