io8 DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 



A. Base of sterile pinnae cut sharply off or almost wedge-shaped. 



B. Base of sterile pinnae having heart-shaped lobes overlapping the rachis. 



C. Sterile pinnae narrowed at base. 



D. minor. Sterile pinnae very thick in texture, with saw-like edges, and scattered 

 dark scales on the stipes, rachis, and costae. 



The first three are connefted by innumerable intermediate forms, but the last, 

 Plate XII, Nos. 4, 4a, and 4b, is so very distinct as, in my opinion, to warrant its 

 being classed as a different fern, unless of course connefting links occur in other 

 countries, though not in New Zealand. It is extremely dark olive-green, and often 

 variegated or shaded, and the lower pinnae are deflexed like those of L. vulcanica. 

 Like those of that fern too, the fertile fronds are much longer than the barren ones. 

 The fertile pinnae are at first quite linear, but afterwards get much wider, and cellular 

 in structure, like those of L. Patersoni, and they trend upwards almost like those of 

 L. fluviatilis. The stipes is quite black, and has curious white patches on its sides, 

 apparently where scales have fallen off. Altogether it seems to conne6l Lomaria 

 Procera with the other three plants, while at the same time it has peculiarities of its 

 own. I have seen it only in two places, viz., — Murimotu, near the base of Ruapehu, 

 and near Dunedin : but from Dr. Hooker's classing it as a variety, it probably occurs 

 elsewhere. In fact, from a passage in a letter from Mr. Colenso, I infer that he first 

 found it in some other locality, and sent it to Kew, though he does not seem to have 

 noted its having characteristics connefting it with other Lomarias besides L, 

 procera. It is very harshly coriaceous in texture. 



In Volume IX of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, page 491, the 

 late Mr. T. H. Potts mentions anotherform under the name of " Lomaria duplicata." In 

 it the stipes forks and produces two distinft fronds, one of which is fertile, while the 

 other is barren. I have occasionally seen forked fronds elsewhere, but in the 

 Canterbury plant the type seems to have become constant, so as to constitute a good 

 variety. 



Lomaria procera is easily cultivated, and will bear more exposure than most New 

 Zealand ferns, though it does not like wind, particularly draughts. Of course only the 

 smaller forms are suited to pot-culture, but "variety minor" is well worth growing, 

 though it requires more shade, and a far moister atmosphere than the others. In one 

 form or other, Lomaria procera is found apparently throughout the Southern Hemi- 

 sphere, from the Equator to as far south as the Campbell and Auckland Islands, and 

 has variously been called "L. capensis," "L. Gilliesii," '' Stegania procera," "Blechnura 

 procerum," " Parablechnum procerum," '■ Osmunda procera," and " Osmunda 

 capensis." It ranges, in New Zealand, from sea-level up to 4000 feet elevation, and 

 occurs on all sorts of soils, and in all sorts of situations, even in crevices of rock, and 

 on stumps and rotten logs. 



