DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. i45 



scarcer. It used to be plentiful about Auckland, but seems to have disappeared from 

 all but one locality. It also used to occur in two or three places near Wellington^ but 

 I believe the sheep have eaten every bit of it. It held its ground in one place for some 

 years, as it was just above the reach of Merinos, but when larger sheep were introduced 

 they soon demolished it. Mr. Colenso says it still occurs sparingly at one place near 

 Napier, and it certainly does so on the Port Hills between Christchurch and Lyttelton, 

 where it is said to be tolerably plentiful in some seasons, and almost absent in others. 

 Mr. Thomson mentions the Thames, some other parts of Canterbury, the Upper 

 Clutha near Cromwell, and the vicinity of Dunedin, as localities where it may still be 

 found, but no doubt the sheep will soon banish it. It is an annual plant, growing up 

 about February, lasting through the winter, perfefling its fronds in the spring, and 

 dying as soon as the warm, dry summer weather begins. Thus, if eaten off, or 

 otherwise prevented from shedding its spores for a single year, it disappears from the 

 locality. Every lover of ferns, therefore, should make a point of growing some every 

 year, and scattering the spores where they would be out of the reach of sheep. Its 

 delicate beauty will well repay the trouble. Though it ordinarily grows in crevices of 

 rocks, yet it is not particular as to soil, and would soon be plentiful if it only got leave 

 to live. It rarely exceeds three or four inches in height. 



It is just a tufted plant, with no noticeable rhizome, and only produces from three 

 to about six fronds. The stipes is rather long, and of a bright shining brownish red 

 colour, which, in the rachis, gradually merges into the green of the frond. Frond oval 

 or triangular, bi or tri-pinnate. Pinnae oval or fan-shaped, cut into oblong lobes. 

 Texture quite glossy and membranous : colour bright yellowish green. Sori radiating 

 from the stalks of the pinna;, along the lobes, and at last almost covering the under- 

 surface of the frond with brown fructification. 



SUB-ORDER OSMUMDACE^ (Os-mun-da-ce-ae) 

 Has two-valved capsules opening across the top and furnished with a short horizontal 

 ring. 



GENUS OSMUNDA (Os-mun-da) 

 Has the sori distinfl from the leafy part of the frond, and forming a panicle made up 

 of copious thyrsoid clusters. 



OSMUNDA REGALIS. (Os-mun-da re-ga-lis.) 



" ROYAL FERN," " KING FERN," " CRESTED FERN," " FLOWERING FERN." 



PLATE XXII., No. 5. 



This is a fern which I include with some hesitation, because, though it has been 



found in one locality, there seems to be a doubt as to how it got there. Perhaps the 



best way will be to state the fafls. Dr. Curll, who for many years resided at 



Rangitikei, always asserted that the Osmunda grew at one spot beside the river, during 



