TREE FERNS. 



IB 



particularly striking through its rough, slender stem, and its long, plumose 

 fronds, which are peculiarly borne on stout stalks, covered with brown hairs 

 of a long and shaggy nature. But these Tree Ferns of Australia proper can 

 hardly be kept apart from those of New Zealand and Tasmanian origin, for, 

 besides succeeding admirably under similar treatment, they are likewise 

 frequently found scattered over the different regions just mentioned. 



However productive of Tree Ferns other parts of Australia may be, 

 Victoria is the home of the kinds of most imposing dimensions. It is in 

 that country that Dicksonia antarctica appears to attain its utmost size ; 

 handsome trunks of that species, 50ft. to 60ft. in height, and surmounted by 

 heavy crowns of ample foliage, being frequently met with. This, however, is 

 not the only place where that truly magnificent Tree Fern luxuriates, as it is 

 equally found in several parts of Tasmania or Van Diemen's Land, notably 

 on Mount Wellington, where it grows in abundance, and where it also 

 attains extraordinary dimensions. In both places the habitats of the Tree 

 Ferns are of such a damp nature that they may be said to be enveloped in 

 perpetual mist, an assertion fully borne out by the fact that many of the 

 trunks imported into this country are either partially or totally covered with 

 little Hymenophyllum varum, and the equally diminutive, though extremely 

 pretty, Trichomanes venosum, both species which could not possibly luxuriate 

 under any other atmospheric conditions. 



The hardiness of Dicksonia antarctica is surprising ; it has even been 

 found with its head heavily laden with snow. Notwithstanding this, 

 however, its culture out of doors in this country does not appear to have 

 met with any decided success, although we hear of its standing uninjured, 

 yet without protection, in parts of Ireland, while some large stems have 

 lately been planted by Mr. J. C. Williams, on Ms magnificent estate at 

 Caerhays Castle, St. Austell, in Cornwall, where they promise to do very 

 well. 



Besides Dicksonia antarctica, New Zealand might also claim the 

 production of the Silver Tree Fern, Cyathea dealbata, a kind with generally 

 a straight stem and large fronds, which, owing to the silvery colour of 

 their under- surface, are very attractive ; C. medullaris, perhaps the most 

 gigantic, or at least the most rapid-growing, Tree Fern known, with stalks 

 very robust, and of a beautiful ebony-black colour ; and C. Smithii, an 



