“ TREE-FERN. In old and well-grown specimens of some of the familiar ferns of temperate climates the wide-spreading crown of fronds may be observed to rise at the distance often of a good many inches above the ground, and from a stem of considerable thickness. ”

“ In Tasmania Alsophila australis has been found up to the snow-level, and in the humid and mountainous regions of the tropics tree-ferns are also found to range up to a considerable altitude. The fronds may either contribute to the apparent thickness of the stem by leaving more or less of their bases, which become hardened and persistent, or they may be articulated to the stem and fell off, leaving characteristic scars in spiral series upon the stem. ”

“ Tree-ferns are cultivated for their beauty alone; a few, however, are of some economic application, chiefly as sources of starch. Thus the beautiful Alsophila excelsa of Norfolk Island is said to be threatened with extinction for the sake of its sago-like pith, which is greedily eaten by hogs ”