Colenso. — On Cryptogams. 321 



Genus 13. Cheilanthes, Swartz. 



1. C. vcnosa, sp. nov. 



Plant slightly tufted. Stipe suberect and curved, 3in.- 

 3|in. long, very slender almost filiform, terete, lightly furrowed 

 on upper surface near base, glabrous, light-red and glossy (as, 

 also, rhachis and subrhachises), with a few small weak scales 

 scattered throughout. Frond 2in.-3in. long, sub-deltoid-ovate, 

 li£in.-2m. wide at base, apical lobe very large (for plant), 

 deeply incised obtuse ; bipinnate light-green, glabrous, with a 

 few distant scattered fine weak and rather long white hairs on 

 both surfaces ; pinnae 4-5 jugae ; 3 lower pairs opposite, dis- 

 tant fin.-lin. on rhachis, sub-deltoid-ovate, lin.-Hin. long, 

 about lin. wide at base, petiolate ; uppermost pairs subsessile 

 and pinnatifid ; pinnules ovate, obtuse, pinnatifid, deeply in- 

 cised, lobed ; lobes oblong ; tips of lobes and lobules irregu- 

 larly bluntly toothed, much veined ; veins pinnate, free, regu- 

 larly branching from midrib, largely dichotomous, each lobe 

 and lobule containing many straight venules and veinlets, ex- 

 tending to margin. Sori loosely scattered, generally on tips 

 of pinnas and of lobes in irregular little batches, mostly very 

 small, sometimes mere dots. Involucre green from the in- 

 curved margin of frond, small and (sometimes) 1-2-3-cleft and 

 toothed, rarely covering sori. 



Hab. Dry hills, among low shrubs and undisturbed indi- 

 genous herbage, in various localities in the County of Hawke's 

 Bay; rather rare, nowhere common. 



Obs. I. This is a very neat little fern ; its fresh and charm- 

 ing green colour alike on both sides (which it also retains in 

 drying), and its light-red glossy filiform stipe and rhachises, 

 give it an elegant appearance, which is also increased on 

 examination and observing the curious disposition of its sori 

 and involucres, and its remarkably regular and curved nume- 

 rous venation. 



II. I have known this fern for a considerable time, but 

 only during this year (1892) have I succeeded in obtaining really 

 good specimens. I think its fronds are annual or biennial. 

 Old states, more or less dried up, are difficult to examine 

 closely and satisfactorily, and much resemble those of C. 

 tenuifolia, Swartz, to which species (and also to G. sieberi, 

 Kunze) it is pretty closely allied. But from C. tenuifolia it 

 differs in several particulars (vide descript.), and most espe- 

 cially in its peculiar and striking venation, which does not 

 vary, and forms a good specific character. Sir W. J. Hooker 

 has given a drawing with dissections of 0. tenuifolia (likewise 

 of C. sieberi) in his " Species Filicum," of which he also says, 

 in his description of that fern, " Our figure will give a better 

 idea of the plant than whole pages of description can do " 

 21 



