128 DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 



ASPIDIUM CYSTOSTEGIUM. (As-pid-e-um sis-tos-te-ge-um.) 



"THE EGMONT FERN." 

 PLATE VIII., No. 3. 



This plant is confined to New Zealand. It has been found on Tongariro and 

 Mount Egmont in the North Island, and at heights of from 3000 to 6000 feet, in 

 a number of places, all along the Southern Alps in the Middle Island : so that it no 

 doubt occurs near the snow line throughout the Colony. It only differs from A. 

 aculeatum in being a far smaller plant, with much brighter softer foliage ; in having 

 its upper pinnae more crowded, the lower ones often twice divided (so that the frond 

 is tripinnate below), the sori more numerous, and usually confined to upper part of 

 fronds, and both them and the involucres far larger. The caudex often branches 

 and produces several crowns. Mr. Thomson says "it is extremely hardy, and can be 

 cultivated with the greatest facility." Of its hardiness there can be no doubt, or it 

 would not grow where it does ; but the experience of fern-growers in the North Island 

 differs from that of Mr. Thomson ; and as I did not see a single plant of it in cultiva- 

 tion in a number of ferneries which I lately visited at Christchurch and Dunedin, and 

 in some of which the Alpine varieties were a speciality, I fancy Mr. Thomson is wrong, 

 and that the fern requires the mountain air to enable it to thrive. 



ASPIDIUM RICHARDI. (As-pid-e-um Rich-ard-i.) 



PLATE XIII., No. 4. 



This fern is very common throughout the Colony, and is found in all sorts of 

 situations, but not in very wet places. I have seen it in heavy bush, light bush, scrub, 

 on faces of banks, under hedges, in crevices of rocks, and on grass tussocks in a 

 swamp. It is also reported from Fiji, so that it probably occurs in other islands 

 between there and New Zealand. It was called " Polystichum aristatum " by Sir W. 

 Hooker, but this was apparently a mistake, as it and A. aristatum differ very widely. 



A. Richardi has a short, thick, scaly rhizome, and a crown of few fronds only. 

 The stipes is long, stout, ereft, dark-coloured and scaly, particularly towards the base. 

 Rachis also more or less scaly. Frond oblong or triangular, bi or tri-pinnate. Pinnae 

 divided into broader or narrower lanceolate pinnules, the lower of which are stalked 

 and the upper sessile. These are also more or less deeply cut into sharp teeth. 

 Texture harshly coriaceous ; colour dark shining olive-green above, often woolly or 

 scaly below. Sori varying much in size, generally in two rows, half-way between costa 

 and edge. Involucre membranous, white, with small black dot in centre. It will grow 

 most readily, and requires but little care, as almost any soil will suit it. 



The principal differences of form are that, in the Northern plants, the pinnules are 

 narrower, more tapering, and less deeply toothed than in the Southern ones. The forms 

 of the latter,' which have their lower pinnae again pinnate, are also generally broader 

 and more triangular in the frond. A very curious form was also found at Wellington 



