Pteridophyta of the Southern Cook Group

Abstract

The fern flora of Rarotonga was exhaustively collected as long ago as 1899 by the New Zealand botanist T. F. Cheeseman (1903). A second comprehensive account appeared almost 30 years later (Wilder, 1931), and a less complete collection of ferns by Harold E. and Susan Thew Parks was reported on by Copeland (1931). Several other visitors to the island have collected ferns, Armstrong (date unknown), B. B. Given, and Mrs. Hynes each twice during the 1960s and Stoddart in 1969. The most recent collection is that made by one of us (W. R. Philipson, 1969) on the expedition organized by the Royal Society of New Zealand to commemorate Captain Cook's early explorations.