396 Transactions. — Botany. 



terminating in a minute round glandular-like ball. Frond 

 membranous, 8in.-llin. high (stipe included), 3-|in.-4in. 

 broad at base, deltoid-acuminate, 3-pinnatifid, leafy, dark- 

 green, suberect, slightly decurved ; stipe (4in.-5in.) terete, 

 glabrous, shining, rigid, more or less flexuous, dark-brown. 

 Rhachis and subrhachises winged throughout, pinnae close 

 overlapping, their tips often elongated, simple and forked at 

 apices, the lower ones decurved ; sometimes the second pair 

 from base are the longest, the lowest pair opposite with their 

 large basal segments meeting over rhachis, presenting a semi- 

 crisp appearance ; segments broad, laciniate ; lobes narrow- 

 linear, entire, obtuse. Involucres on all pinnas, but mostly 

 very numerous on upper two-thirds of frond, marginal on all 

 sides and tips of segments and lobes, very large, wider than 

 lobe, oblate, hemispherical and oblong, 2-4-fid to base, 

 open, spreading, sometimes 2-3 together ; lips entire, trun- 

 cate, broad, sometimes once-notched ; here and there two 

 clusters of sori are together within one involucre. Sori pro- 

 minent, much exposed ; capsules large, striking, each with a 

 bright-red shining elastic ring. 



Hab. Dry shaded woods south of Dannevirke, County of 

 Waipawa; 1890-91: W. C. 



Obs. This is another handsome fern ; it forms small loose 

 tufts or mats, on the ground among the trees. It is allied to 

 H. deviissum, from which species, however (and from all 

 others known to me), it differs — in its large and peculiar 

 involucres, also in its rhachis and subrhachises being winged 

 throughout, in its darker-green colour, close and overlappmg 

 pinnae and segments, and in not creeping diffusely nor climb- 

 ing trees like that species. It is also closely allied to H. 

 erecto-alatum, Col. (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xi., p. 431), but 

 that species is much smaller, and of a light-green colour, 

 with the wings of its rhachis and subrhachises largely and 

 vertically crisped, its stipe is also winged above, and its invo- 

 lucre though large is very different. 



Genus 22. Polypodium, Linn. 

 1. P. avipluvi, sp. nov. 



Plant terrestrial, forming large close beds or patches 

 many yards in extent ; stipites single, distant, suberect, 

 fronds drooping. Ehizome creeping, slender, subterraneous, 

 somewhat brittle (as also stipites). Stipe 2ft. Sin. long (some 

 shorter), as thick as a common-size lead pencil, obscurely tri- 

 quetrous the back broadly rounded and the sides flattened, 

 glabrous, shining, pale-brown, with minute sparsely-scttttered 

 darker-coloured points scarcely submuricate, deeply sulcated 

 on upper side throughout the whole length, the lower part 

 semi-scaberulous to the touch, the extreme base (also elon- 



