NOTES ON NEW ZEALAND FERNS. 369 



in its foliage, sometimes having its ultimate segments long and 

 coarse, and at others quite laxy from the minuteness of the sub- 

 divisions. Though P. comans and P. macilenta differ so widely in 

 then* extreme forms, the intermediate links make it quite 

 impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins, and it 

 is not unusual to find fronds with the undulated edge which are 

 mentioned as the characteristic of P. undulata. Both are tufted 

 ferns. Om* P. incisa has the barren lobes round or oval, and the 

 fertile ones triangular. Possibly the x^artial folding over of the 

 edge of the fertile lobes gives the altered appearance, though the 

 rounded lobes seem never to produce sori. 



Our Lomaria Patersoni or L. elongata produces both simple and 

 pinnatifid fronds on the same plant, and the latter are often from 

 three to four feet long. The fronds rise singly from widely creeping 

 rhizomes. Our L. discolor has long creeping underground rhizomes, 

 from which tufts rise at intervals. These tufts ultimately develope 

 caudices two feet or more in height. The fertile fi-onds always rise 

 in the centre of the crown, from within the circle of barren ones : 

 they are always longer than the latter, and always have large leafy 

 bases to theu' pinnae. The pinnae, too, of both fronds are always 

 alternate. L. vulcanica has very small leafy bases to its fertile 

 pinnae. Our L. lanceolata is merely a tufted plant never developing 

 any caudex. The barren fronds have scarcely any stipes, and are 

 nearly always curved, but the fertile ones, which stand erect within 

 them and are shorter, have longer stipes and are straight. The 

 veins of the barren fronds are very conspicuous, being usually far 

 darker-coloured than the rest of the frond, and often copper- 

 coloured or crimson, and contrasting beautifully with the rest of 

 the foliage. The young fertile fronds are often of the same colours, 

 though they change to dark green afterwards. L. alpina throws 

 up its fronds in tufts or clusters from creeping rhizomes. Most of 

 the pinnae in both barren and fertile fi'onds are deflexed. L. procera 

 varies wonderfully in texture, colour, and form of pinnae. Some- 

 times it has the harsh texture and dark bluish green colour of 

 L. Patersoni, and at others is thin almost to filminess, and of a 

 pale yellowish green. In form the pinnae vary from circular to 

 long oblong-lanceolate with tails at the ends almost as long as the 

 pinnae, while their edges are sometimes entire and sometimes quite 

 deeply serrated or crenated. L. Jiliformis has only small fronds, 

 with romid or oval pinnae, so long as it creeps on the ground. As 

 it ascends trees it develops its large long-pinnad barren fronds ; 

 and the fertile ones are produced at a later period still. L. nigra, 

 L. fluviatilis, and L. memhranacea are only tufted plants, and 

 the last has its fertile fronds on short stipes not more than one inch 

 long. In all the fertile fronds stand erect inside the circle of 

 prostrate barren ones. L. pumila seems a doubtful fern. I can 

 find no one who has ever seen it, and some (Mr. Kirk among them) 

 seem certain there is no such plant in the colony. I fancy that the 

 specimens in your herbarium must be from a form of either 

 L. alpina or L. memhranacea. I thought I had got hold of L. pumila 

 lately, but on watching the plant I feel satisfied it is merely L. 



3b 



