66 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



they mark and in any considerable planting the rows should 

 always be so arranged that the owner knows at which end the 

 planting begins. Under these conditions, when several differ- 

 ent plants occur in a single row, it will be easy to discover to 

 which lot a given label refers. 



NEW ZEALAND FERN NAMED 



T X the Fern Bulletin for July, 1912, there was published a 

 drawing of an unfamiliar fern frond which could not be 

 named for want of fruiting material. To our request for 

 its name, there was no reply from this side of the world, 

 but Prof. A. Gepp of the British Museum, London, has 

 kindh' identified the plant. The fern is Platyzonia niicro- 

 pJiylla or, if you prefer, Gleichcnia platyzoma. Judging 

 from the appearance of the sterile fronds alone, the editor 

 guessed that it might be a Pellaea or CheilanfJies. but it 

 turns out to be only distanth' related to those ferns : indeed, it 

 does not belong to the same division of the fern family, being 

 one of the Gleicheniaceae, a group coordinate with the Poly- 

 podiaceae tO' which the majority of ferns belong. The plant 

 was originally described as the type of the genus Platyzoma but 

 it has since been shown to be doubtfully distinct from Gleichenia 

 and modern botanists now put it in that genus. The original 

 specific name was micro phylla, which is certainly descriptive 

 enough, but when placed in Gleichenia it is often called G. platy- 

 zonia. According to such authorities as we have at hand, the 

 fern is found only in Australia. The Fern Bulletin record for 

 South Keppel Island, Xew Zealand, may therefore be an exten- 

 sion of range. 



