126 
New Zealand Ferns 
A most graceful species, almost indispensable for 
bridal bouquets. Although called “The Real Maiden- 
hair,” in distinction from the five other New Zealand 
species, it differs slightly from A. capillus veneris — 
the Maidenhair of Europe — by the larger fronds and 
smaller leaflets. However, as the stalks are just as hair- 
like, I think it is equally entitled to the name. 
The persistence of some small weak plants is very 
remarkable. I first gathered this fern in 1878 at Muri- 
wai, near Helensville, at that time a populous Maori 
settlement, presided over by one of the old-time cannibal 
chiefs, a fine upstanding old man of eighty years, with 
all his teeth intact — no doubt a useful equipment in his 
young days. The fern grew in some high manuka just 
beyond the village; but there were no other trees in the 
vicinity. I next visited the spot 38 years later. Not only 
had the rangatira departed, but every vestige of the 
settlement was gone — the whares, the kumara fields, and 
the manuka. There was literally nothing to show where 
the village had been. The only thing to fix the spot in 
my memory — collectors know how rooted in one’s recol- 
lection is the scene of a first find — was a large patch of 
the soft green maidenhair, shaded by umbrageous trees. 
The Maoris had vanished, the manuka was gone, yet, 
notwithstanding the advent of large trees, the humble 
little fern still held its ground. 
It is a widely-distributed species in both tropical and 
sub-tropical countries. Easily grown, either in pots or 
in the fernery. 
