90 
New Zealand Ferns 
a crown, curving, 8 to 20 feet long by 3 to 5 feet broad, darkish 
green above, paler beneath, texture firm. Midrib more or less 
clothed with silky tawny hairs. Seeds very numerous. 
Abundant throughout the Dominion, except the east coast of 
Canterbury and Otago. Sea-level to 2,000 feet. 
One of the tallest and handsomest tree-ferns in the 
world. It is seen to the greatest advantage when grow- 
ing on a river bank, overhanging the water. One that 
grew on the river bank below my house at Whangarei 
measured 6i feet. I used to swim on my back in the pool 
below, and look up at the blue sky through its feathery 
fronds. It died of old age. I should imagine they do not 
live very long', rarely, if ever, attaining man’s allotted 
span. On several occasions I have tested its rate of 
growth ; it averages, roughly, a foot a year up to ten 
years, possibly it may be slower as they become old. 
The fronds keep appearing all the year round. Who 
has not admired the majestic unrolling crooks densely 
covered with dark-brown scales to protect the tender life 
from sun and wind? It is averred that the Maori got 
his beautiful scrolls for carving and tattooing from the 
tree-fern. I had one growing near a totara tree, whose 
quickly spreading branches gradually thrust it out of 
the perpendicular. After an unusually wet winter and 
spring, it sent up a grand crown of fronds, more than 
the sloping trunk could support, for it snapped off close 
to the ground. It had been planted a seedling 1 1 years 
before, and had attained a height of io feet. I dug a 
hole, placed it in and rammed it tight, like a fencing post. 
After struggling through the summer, it began to put 
out new fronds, and now shows signs of complete re- 
covery. 
I can remember as a young man being shown the 
largest tree-fern in Scotland. The glasshouse had been 
specially raised to accommodate its aspiring head — it 
was 4 feet high! a poor, scraggy specimen, but almost 
venerated by its owner. In New Zealand they are seldom 
less than 20 feet when mature, and so abundant that the 
