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
