96 
New Zealand Ferns 
( 33 ) C.Cunninghamii (Mr. Cunningham). “Gully 
Fern.” A graceful tree-fern, very similar to C. medul - 
laris, but smaller, the trunk more slender — usually only 
half the diameter — the fronds less robust, wider in pro- 
portion to their length, more irregularly curved, not so 
drooping, more membranous. Midribs covered with yel- 
lowish hairs. Seeds smaller. 
Description . — Trunk 8 to 20 feet or more high, 3 to 3^ inches 
diameter. Often coated at the base with matted aerial rootlets. 
Leaf-stalks rather slender. Fronds numerous, 20 to 30; 6 to 10 
feet long by 2 to 4 feet broad, almost membranous, flaccid, dark- 
green above, paler beneath. Seeds copious. 
North Island: Bay of Islands, Whangarei, Great Barrier, Wai- 
takere, Hunua ; Wellington — Hutt Valley. South Island : Nel- 
son. Chatham Islands. Sea-level to 1,500 feet. 
After fully describing the trunks and fronds of the 
tree-ferns, their beauties are not nearly exhausted. The 
fibrous trunks form natural hanging gardens for innu- 
merable species of ferns and mosses, besides many flow- 
ering plants. I have observed some 40 or 50 species of 
ferns flourishing in this airy situation, from mats of 
tiny filmy ferns, pellucid cups of the kidney fern, to long 
pendulous fronds of Hymenophyllum scabnnn and H. 
dilatatum; several species of climbing Polypodium and 
Lomaria; handsome fronds of Aspidium capense richly 
decorated with patches of black seeds; picturesque tufts 
of Aspleniuni falcatum , the broad shining leaves of A. 
lucidum; great hirsute fronds of N ephrodium hispidum, 
and the twining mange-mange, etc., etc. 
