DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 87 



in crevices of rocks at high levels, it may be much more common than is generally 

 supposed. This fern varies considerably in appearance in different localities. I have 

 one from Queenstown on Lake Whakatupu, of which the fronds correspond exactly 

 with Professor Kirk's description ; the pinnae being very ascending and having small, 

 very scattered pinnules. In the others they do not ascend, or do so but slightly. The 

 Lyttelton plant has its fronds narrower in proportion to their length, and the pinnae 

 are shorter with larger pinnules, and vary from ascending to deflexed. The Wanganui 

 one is altogether more compaft and squarer in the frond, with very ascending pinnae, 

 approximating closely to Cheilanthes Sieberi. It is very easily cultivated, as it likes 

 a dry situation, and does not require much water. I have seen it cultivated in a 

 hollowed fern-tree stump in a garden. Its bright colour and finely divided foliage 

 make it very attraftive, and fern lovers should try to obtain plants of it. It is apt to 

 to stick to the paper in pressing. 



CHEILANTHES SIEBERI. (Ki-lan-thees See-ber-i.) 



PLATE XXI., No. I. 



Has also an ereft rhizome, and crown of fronds. Stipes long, stout, ereft, dark 

 glossy brown, with a few hairs at base. Rachis stiff, round and polished. Frond long 

 oblong or lanceolate, bluntly pointed at the top, erect, and bi or tri-pinnatifid. Pinnae 

 arranged in pairs usually at a considerable distance apart. From Professor Kirk's 

 mentioning the ascending habit of the pinnae as a distinguishing characteristic of C 

 tenuifolia, one would infer that the pinnae of C. Sieberi stood out at right angles to the 

 rachis or nearly so, yet the frond figured in the plate, for which I am indebted to the 

 Professor himself, has its pinnae ascending ; from which it would appear that both 

 plants have their pinnae set sometimes horizontal and sometimes ascending. The 

 pinnae are triangular and the pinnules triangular or oblong, the lowest ones being 

 pinnate at their bases, and all divided into segments, the edges of which are sometimes 

 entire and sometimes indented or lobed. The sori are seldom confluent, and do not 

 project beyond the edge of the frond. Involucres small, rounded, and with entire 

 edges. Texture coriaceous ; colour yellowish green. This fern is found in Australia 

 and New Caledonia as well as in New Zealand. It is common on the volcanic rocks 

 about Auckland and thence to the Northern extremity of the Colony; and as it is found 

 in Canterbury and Otago it probably occurs in the intervening country, though from 

 the imperfect botanical exploration of much of the North Island, it has not yet been 

 observed. 



Dr. Hooker considered the two plants identical, and I am by no means certain 

 that they are really specifically distinft ; as the Wanganui form of what is known as 

 C. tenuifolia, Plate XXI, No. 2, appears to me to have all the characteristics of 

 Sieberi, except that the frond is far broader in proportion to its length, and the pinnae 



