954 FILICES. [Dicksonia. 
brown, smooth, densely pilose on both surfaces with soft brownish 
hairs. Primary pinne 4-10in. long, 14-24in. broad, lanceolate, 
acuminate or almost caudate; secondary #-l4in. long, ++4in. 
broad, linear or linear-oblong, pinnatifid or pinnate at the very base. 
Segments rather close, falcate, acute; the barren ones larger and 
broader, almost flat, acutely coarsely toothed; fertile smaller, con- 
tracted, concave, obtusely pinnatifid. Sori very numerous, covering 
the whoie under-surface of the frond, small, 3-6 to each segment or 
1 to each lobule.—-Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 68, t. 238 ; Hook. and Bak. Syn. 
Ful. 46>) Field, N.Z.- Ferns, 51; t. 10, 4.°5;°and “t/20, ieee 
antarctica, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. u. 10; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 351; 
Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 31 (not of Labill.). D. intermedia, Col. ex 
Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 461. D. Sparrmanniana, Col. in Trans. 
N.Z. Inst. xii. (1880) 364. D. microcarpa, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. 
xx. (1888) 214. 
NortH anp SoutH Istanps: From Tauranga and the Middle Waikato 
southwards, abundant in forests. CHATHAM IsLaNnDs: Miss Seddon! Sea- 
level to 2500 ft. Weki-ponga; Kuripaka. 
Very close indeed to the Australian D. antarctica, but a much smaller plant, 
with densely pilose rhachides and cost, and smaller sori. Mr. Colenso’s D. 
Sparrmanniana is a short-trunked form with rather broader fertile segments; 
and his D. microcarpa has smaller and more finely cut fronds, with smaller sori ; 
but they both merge gradually into the ordinary form. .The Maoris formerly 
sliced the fibrous outside of the trunk into slabs, and used them in the construc- 
tion of their food-houses, for the purpose of excluding rats. 
3. D. lanata, Col. in Tasmanian Journ. Nat. Sct. (1845) 21.— 
Caudex usually long, prostrate and rooting, as thick as the wrist; 
more rarely short. stout, erect, and attaining a height of 3-6 ft. 
Fronds few, 3-6ft. long, 1-3{ft. broad, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 
acuminate, 2—3-pinnate, thick and coriaceous but hardly rigid, 
yellowish-green above, paler beneath. Stipes from half as long to 
as long as the frond, pale, smooth, clothed at the base with long 
purplish-brown or yellowish-brown fibrillose scales, when young 
more or less covered (together with the rhachis and costz) with 
soft woolly deciduous hairs, almost glabrous when mature. Primary 
pinne 6-12in. long, 2-4in. broad, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate ; 
secondary 1-3in. long, 4-2in. broad, pinnate or pinnatifid. Seg- 
ments or pinnules rather closely set, slightly faleate ; barren oblong 
or ovate, obtusely or acutely toothed or lobulate ; fertile smaller and 
narrower, deeply pinnatifid. Sori copious, 6-12 to a segment or 1 
to each lobule.—Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 69, t. 230; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. 
Zel. ii. 10; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 351; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 461; 
Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 31; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 53, t. 11, f. 1a, 1B, le. 
D. levis, Heward ex Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 69. 
Nortu Isuanp: Hilly forests from Mongonui to Cook Strait, not com- 
mon. SoutH Istanp: Nelson—Massacre Bay, Travers; Pakawau, Kingsley ! 
Westland—Okarito, A. Hamilton ! Canterbury—Banks Peninsula, Armstrong. 
Sea-level to 2000 ft. 
