152 
New Zealand Ferns 
XIII. CHEILANTHES 
CHEILANTHES (cheilos, lip or margin; an- 
thos, flower — the fructification on the margin). A genus 
of 60 species, with 2 in New Zealand. Small upright 
ferns, generally growing on rocks in the open. Seeds 
along the margins of the leaves, which curve over in 
indented folds. 
S. SIEBER1 
( 57 ) C. tenuifolia (thin-leaved). A small upright 
fern growing in exposed situations; the leaves bright 
green, the shining stalks a golden-brown. A very much 
scarcer species than C. Sieberi, from which it differs in 
the width and shape of the frond. C. tenuifolia is, 
roughly, half as broad as it is long, C. Sieberi only one- 
sixth. 
Description .— Root very short, clothed with silky scales. Stalks 
3 to 9 inches long, wiry, erect, dark red-brown, smooth and 
polished. Fronds 4 to 10 inches long by 2 to 4 inches broad, 
rather membranous, yellow-green. Seeds along the margins of 
the leaflets. 
Auckland — near Tauranga; Flawke’s Bay — Mohaka; Welling- 
ton — near Wanganui. South Island : Canterbury — Banks Penin- 
sula; Otago — Lakes Wakatipu and Wanaka. Sea-level to 2,500 
feet. 
This is a wide-spread species. The New Zealand specimens 
I have seen approach C. Sieberi much more closely than speci- 
mens gathered in Samoa and Fiji. It is easily cultivated, pre- 
ferring an open, dry situation. 
