6 
New Zealand Ferns 
To a newcomer the variety and abundance of the ferns 
is simply bewildering. Noble tree-ferns raising their 
feathered tops high above the bushes until a hillside 
when viewed from a distance appears to be clothed with 
nothing else. Tree trunks adorned with pellucid fronds 
that give an indescribable luxuriance to the scene; 
drooping species of Asplenium hanging from the forks 
of great trees; broad glistening leaves that brighten the 
gloom of a shady dell ; fronds of pure tender green ris- 
ing from the ground in graceful curves to the height of 
a man; the sides and summits of grey weather-beaten 
rocks made beautiful with masses of shining Polypod- 
ium; acre upon acre of the sweet-scented Pteris; banks 
of trembling maidenhair. Their beauties are endless. One 
could fill a volume and still not describe a tithe of 
Nature’s prodigality. 
SPECIES 
The study of botany as a science is comparatively 
modern, dating, practically from the time of Linnaeus, 
who introduced his initial reform in the year 1736. 
He was the first to attempt a classification of the ferns, 
of which he enumerated 190 species, using as a guide to 
his genera the outward appearances of the plants, a plan 
which naturally led to some confusion. Dr. Swartz, in 
1806, increased the number of species to 700, Sprengel 
to 1,309 in 1836, and Sir William Hooker to 2,400 in 
1846. At the present day there are not less than 3,500. 
If Linnaeus got into difficulties with the classification 
of 190 species, the attempt to classify 3,500 on the same 
system would have ended in chaos. Some more reliable 
guide than the shape of the plant had to be discovered. 
It was found in the seeds and their receptacles and in 
their position on the veins. Hooker and Baker’s “Syn- 
opsis Filicum” divided the species into 75 genera, 31 of 
which are represented in New Zealand. But even the 
present system is not quite perfect, as can be shown by 
the genus Polypodiuni — many footed, in allusion to the 
number of rootlets by which some of the species hold on 
