DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 53 



height six inches in that time. At present its caudex is about nine inches high by 

 five inches in diameter, and the plant must be nearly or quite fifty years old. It grows 

 in a shady sheltered place, and produces fronds fully five feet long ; so that its slow- 

 growth is not the result of unfavourable conditions. The fern is found apparently 

 throughout the Colony, but becomes scarce towards the southern end, though, 

 curiously enough, it ascends to a higher level than D. squarrosa. Mr. Colenso's 

 *' Dicksonia Sparmanniana " appears to be a variety with the fronds narrowing down- 

 wards, and with larger sori than ordinary ; and his "D. microcarpa" is a smaller plant, 

 with softer narrower foliage and lighter green colour. The tips of its fronds also 

 turn upwards. Both occur in forests near Dannevirke. 



DICKSONIA LANATA. (Dik-so-ne-a La-na-ta.) 



PLATE XI., Nos. 1, la, and lb. 

 Also called "Dicksonia Lasvis," and peculiar to New Zealand. Was formerly 

 classed in the early editions of the synopsis as a variety of D. antarctica just as the 

 last one was, but their specific distinctness is recognised in the appendix, though I 

 am not sure whether altogether justly, as there seem to be two distinct plants included 

 under this name. The first and commonest occurs at pretty high levels throughout 

 the Colony, and as I for many years knew of no other I was puzzled to understand its 

 being called " lanata," woolly, unless on the /ucus a non lucendo principle, as the 

 plant is very far less hairy than either of the other Dicksonias, and usually almost 

 destitute of hair. The plant has creeping rhizomes as thick as a man's wrist or fore- 

 arm, from which at intervals crowns of a few fronds, seldom more than four or five, 

 arise, and it seems never to produce any caudex at all, even when it is so old that its 

 fronds are from 4ft. to 5ft. high. It covers large spaces of ground in patches, and 

 there are few or no solitary plants scattered through the forest. In fact, the patches 

 are often a mile or more apart, even in the localities where the fern occurs. These 

 rhizomes are almost destitute of enveloping scales or root-fibres. The stipes is very 

 long, generally longer than the frond itself, of a light-brown colour, and though it is 

 dotted with short whitish or reddish hairs when it first grows up, these generally all 

 soon drop off, excepting a few at the very base, and leave the stem clean and glossy. 

 If, however, the bush is cleared and the plants exposed, the hairs will remain. They 

 thus seem a provision of nature to protect the stipes from cold, like the fur of animals. 

 The frond is very broadly lanceolate or rhomboid, nearly as broad as long, and the 

 lower pinnae diminish but little in length, though they are sometimes considerably 

 deflexed. The rachis and costae are smooth below, and shade gradually from the 

 brown of the stipes to a dull dark green. Their upper side has a narrow velvety 

 stripe of a darker green colour along the centre ; and there is often a little down at 

 the bases of the costae. The pinnae are few in number, far apart, tapering, and 



