I 66 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



It varies considerably in habit and stature, but in the fruiting 

 state the leaves are shorter than the culms, the panicle is usually effuse, 

 and the capillary branches rigid. Two forms are easily distinguished by 

 the relative lengths of the lowest flower and the largest outer glume, as 

 stated above ; the awn is usually situate just below the apex of the 

 flowering glume, and sometimes does not project beyond it, or but very 

 slightly, when it is liable to be mistaken for a prolongation of the median 

 nerve ; in most cases, however, it is well developed and unmistakable, 

 but it is rarely situate below the upper third of the glume and never 

 below the middle. In some panicles the upper flower is invariably 

 awned and the lower awnless ; but the panicles from the same plants 

 vary greatly in this respect. Another variable character is found in 

 the rachilla, which, in the form with small outer glume, is always 

 present and very silky, but is often wanting in the form with a large 

 outer glume, and when present is usually glabrous. A similar varia- 

 tion is seen in the pedicel of the upper flower, and in the presence 

 or absence of a small panicle of silky hairs at the base of either flower. 

 The grain is very large for the size of the flower. 



I have for some years past distributed specimens of an elegant 

 form of this plant, with an elongated panicle and glumes of a faint 

 purplish hue, under the name of Triodia antarctica Benth. and Hook, 

 f., var. purpurea ; and Mr. Petrie informs me that he has described a 

 similar plant, under the name of Deschampsia Chapmcmii, but I have 

 not seen his description. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE FERN FLORA 

 OF NEW ZEALAND. 



Nearly every volume of the Transactions of the New Zealand 

 Institute for the past ten or fifteen j r ears has contained descriptions of 

 new species of plants, and among these new ferns have been frequently 

 included. When the present writer brought out his " Ferns and Fern 

 Allies of New Zealand " in 1S82. he felt compelled to reduce many of 

 these new species to the rank of mere varieties of already known forms, 

 a course which subjected him in certain quarters to considerable 

 obloquy. The latest number of the "Annals of Botany" contains the 

 first part of a paper* by Mr. J. G. Baker in which all new ferns which 

 have been discovered or described since 1874 are summarised. The 

 following notes are extracted from this paper and will enable collectors 

 of New Zealand ferns to reduce some of their aberrant forms to their 

 correct species. — G-. M. T. 



* " A summary of the new Ferns which have been discovered or described since 

 1874," by J. G. Baker, F.R.S., Keeper of the Herbarium, Royal Gardens, Kew, 

 "Annals of Botany." April, 1891, p. 181. 



