DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 109 



LOMARIA FILIFORMIS. (Lo-ma-re-a fi-llf-or-mis.) 



PLATE X., Kos. 3, 3a and 3b. 



This fern is also one of the most common in the North Island, and extends into 

 the Middle one, but apparently only for a short distance, being absent from the 

 southern portion of the Colony. It is a very curious plant in its habits. It grows 

 first on the ground, but soon sends out rhizomes in every direction. These are dark- 

 coloured, slender, and scaly, and produce an abundance of fronds, varying from two 

 to four inches long, by from half to three-quarters of an inch wide. These are 

 pinnate, the pinnae being stalked, rough and oval, with serrated edges, and all barren. 

 These rhizomes creep on the surface of the ground, which they soon cover with a 

 carpet of their fronds. When one of them reaches a tree, it begins to ascend, holding 

 on firmly by aerial roots. It increases greatly in thickness, becoming often as thick 

 as a man's little finger, but still retaining its scalv character. It is also very woody 

 or fibrous in its texture. In this way it often climbs to a height of twenty feet or 

 more up the trunk of the tree, and, soon after it begins to ascend, the character of its 

 fronds entirely changes. They become enlarged sometimes to 3ft. in length, and their 

 pinnae become long lanceolate, or oblong with rounded ends, and often four or five 

 inches long, being, however, still stalked and having toothed edges. The colour, too, 

 still remains of a dark rather shining green, and the texture harshly coriaceous. 

 When the rhizome has climbed six or eight feet, the fertile fronds begin to appear 

 among the barren ones. These are usually oval or oblong in shape, with very long 

 linear pinnae (whence the name fitliformis, thread-shaped), so that they look very 

 like bright green ostrich feathers, sticking out from the tree trunk, and drooping 

 downwards. No one who has once seen this fern can ever mistake it, owing to its 

 being so different from any other. It is said to occur in Fiji, but nowhere else except 

 from there to New Zealand, and it does not seem certain even that it grows in all the 

 intermediate islands. It is very easily cultivated. Any bit of the terrestrial rhizomes 

 will grow readily ; but to see the full character of the fern, it must be planted at the 

 foot of a tree, in a shady sheltered place, and allowed to chmb. It is also called 

 " L. pimpinellaefolia," " Osmunda reptans," and " Stenochlsena heteromorpha," by 

 different writers. The last specific term is most descriptive of the character of the plant. 



LOMARIA FLUVIATILIS. (Lo-ma-re-a flu-vi-at-il-is.) 



PLATE XXVII., Nos. 2 and 2a. 

 This fern, which is also called " Lomaria rotundifolia," and " Stegania fluviatilis " 

 is found in Australia and Tasmania, as well as in New Zealand. It is common all 

 through the Colony, and may be looked for wherever there is a rather damp shadv 

 spot, though alluvial soils suit it best. It has a stout, erect, scaly rhizome, with a 

 crown of many long, narrow, simply-pinnate fronds, spreading out horizontally, and a 



