108 
New Zealand Ferns 
VIII. DAVALLIA 
DAYALLIA (named to honour Edmond Davall, 
a Swiss botanist). A genus of over ioo species, with 
two authentic species in New Zealand, both medium- 
sized plants. 
Seeds in small globular vessels near the margins of 
the leaflets. 
(40) D. Tasmani (named to honour Tasman). Should 
any of my readers have the good fortune to land on the 
Three Kings Islands, they can hardly fail to find this 
fern, which its discoverer describes as abundant. 
Description . — Root long, stout, as thick as the finger, densely 
clothed with chestnut-brown scales. Stalks strong, rigid, smooth, 
3 to 9 inches long. Fronds 4 to 12 inches long by 3 to 9 inches 
broad, very thick and leathery, quite smooth. Seeds numerous, in 
cup-shaped vessels on the margins of the leaflets. 
Three Kings Islands, abundant. 
This most interesting fern was found by Mr. T. F. 
Cheeseman. Up to the present it has been reported from 
nowhere else in the world than these minute islets. In 
all its aspects it is much more like D. solida, a common 
Pacific species, than D. novae scalandiae. It is strange 
that it should have skipped the Kermadec Islands, which 
are several hundred miles nearer the headquarters of 
the genus, from whence the ancestor of the plant must 
have come and established itself on these small islets. 
This must have occurred at a remote period, to account 
for its divergence from its nearest ally. 
