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A revised classification and checklist of New Zealand pteridophytes is presented, based on recently published phyletic schemes for the Pteridophyta, and on revisions of individual families and genera. The list comprises 211 species of which 22 are adventive and 189 native; the latter include 8 unnamed species (either undescribed or unidentified) and a further 6 which are subdivided into separate subspecies. Ofthe native taxa, 89 species (47%) and 3 subspecies (50%) are believed to be endemic to the New Zealand botanical region. Individual taxa are discussed with particular reference to recent revisions and areas requiring further study. Synonymic and alphabetical lists are provided of all validly published pteridophyte names based on New Zealand types or used by authors with reference to the New Zealand flora. The more important species erroneously or dubiously recorded for New Zealand are also listed.

An index of chromosome numbers for New Zealand pteridophytes is presented. The list includes all known chromosome counts, fiom published sources and unpublished reports and theses, of ferns and fern allies indigenous to the New Zealand Botanical Region. Full references to the original reports are provided. Chromosome numbers are listed for 137 species of ferns and 7 fern allies out of a total New Zealand pteridophyte flora of 188 described species. This represents about 77% of the total. Only about 2% of New Zealand pteridophytes are believed to be apomictic.

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Wild intergeneric hybrids are recorded among six genera in the New Zealand Gnaphalieae, but little evidence substantiating their identity has been published. In this paper we evaluate the identity of putative hybrids between two species of Gnaphalieae endemic to New Zealand, Anaphalioides bellidioides and Ewartia sinclairii. The two species are occasionally sympatric in the north-east of the South Island and wild putative hybrids are rarely encountered. To test the hybridity hypothesis, specimens from nine putative hybrids were collected from one site and analysed for 76 morphological characters. The putative hybrids possessed predominantly intermediate or parental character states in comparison with A. bellidioides and E. sinclairii. Extreme traits were less common and a single novel character state was recorded in two hybrids only. Non-metric multidimensional scaling of dissimilarities derived from both continuous and discrete characters was strongly supportive of the hybridity hypothesis. Canonical discriminant analysis of the continuous characters was supportive for some putative hybrids only, in part reflecting the possession of extreme states in characters with high loadings. One of the putative hybrids was strongly indicated to be a backcross with A. bellidioides. The taxonomic treatment of cross-compatible genera is discussed.