Loxsoma. | FILICES, 947 
1. L. Cunninghamii, R. Br. ex A. Cunn. Precur. n. 215, t. 31, 
32.—Rhizome long, stout, tortuous, densely clothed with linear red- 
brown hairs. Stipes 1-2ft. high, erect, pale- brown, glabrous, 
smooth and polished. Fronds 9-24 in. long, 6-12 in. broad, broadly 
triangular, coriaceous, dark-green above, glaucous-white or pale- 
green beneath; rhachis polished, channelled. Primary pinne 
rather distant, ascending, the upper alternate, the lowermost oppo- 
site; secondary ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, pinnate below, 
pinnatifid above. Ultimate segments oblong, subacute, toothed or 
notched. Sori inserted in the notches, the indusium pointing back- 
wards from the frond.—Raoul, Choixz, 38; Hook. Gen. Fil. t. 15; 
Sp. Fil. i. 86; Garden Ferns, t. 31; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 18 ; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 358; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 56; Thoms. N.Z 
Ferns, 33; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 55, t. 12, f. 1. Trichomanes ccenop- 
teroides, Harv. ex A. Cunn. l.c. Davallia dealbata, A. Cunn. l.c. 
NortH Istanp: Auckland—In woods from Mongonui and Kaitaia south- 
wards to Te Aroha, not common. Sea-level to 1200 ft. 
A very remarkable fern, with the habit of a coriaceous Davallia or Dick- 
sonia, and the sorus of a Trichomanes. But the sporangia differ widely 
from those of Trichomanes in having an oblique ring, and the dehiscence is 
vertical, like that of Gleichenia and Schizea. In has generally been placed in 
the tribe Hymenophyllacee, but the recent investigations of Professor Bower 
(Phil. Trans. Vol. excii., pp. 47 to 52) seem to prove that Pres] and Bommer were 
right in regarding it as constituting a distinct tribe, having affinities with 
Gleichenia and Schiz@a on the one hand, and on the other with the 
Aymenophyllacee and Dennstedia. 
4. CYATHEA, Smith. 
Tree-ferns, the New Zealand species with a trunk or caudex 
varying from 10-50 ft. or even more. Fronds very large, usually 
2-3-pinnate, very rarely (in species not found in New Zealand) 
pinnate or undivided. Stipes often muricate or aculeate. Sori 
dorsal, globose, situated upon a vein or at the fork of a vein; recep- 
tacle elevated, globose or elongated. Indusium globose, at first 
covering the whole sorus, but soon bursting at the summit, often in 
an irregular manner, usually persistent as a cup surrounding the 
base of the sorus, its margin entire or laciniate. Sporangia 
numerous, sessile or nearly so, often mixed with jointed hairs, 
bursting transversely ; ring somewhat oblique, usually complete. 
A large and beautiful genus of over 120 species, most plentiful in damp 
tropical or subtropical regions, unknown in the north temperate zone. It 
attains its southern limit in New Zealand. Of the 4 species found therein, 2 
appear to be endemic; the remaining 2 extend to Australia or the Pacific 
islands. 
* Under-surface of frond white. 
Trunk 10-30ft. Fronds 6-12ft.; stipes and rhachis 
clothed with yellowish-brown deciduous tomentum .. 1. C. dealbata. 
