Dicksonia.| FILICES. 955 
At Whangarei, Bay of Islands, and other northern localities this usually 
produces a short stout trunk, but to the south of Auckland it is invariably 
stemless. Possibly there may be two distinct varieties with a different geo- 
graphical range, but so far I have failed to find distinctive characters to 
separate them. 
8. DAVALLIA, Smith. 
Rhizome usually long and creeping, paleaceous. Fronds large 
or small, usually compound, very variously divided, rarely simple, 
stipitate ; texture coriaceous to membranous. Veins always free. 
Sori dorsal, but close to or at the margin of the frond, terminating 
a vein or veinlet, globose or more or less elongated. Indusium 
oblong or ovate to orbicular or broader than long, attached by a 
broad base under the sorus, its sides either free or adnate to the 
frond, open at the top. Sporangia numerous, stalked, girt by an 
incomplete vertical ring, bursting transversely. 
A large genus of over 100 species, most abundant in the tropical and sub- 
tropical regions of the Old World, rare in America. The three species found 
in New Zealand are endemic. I have kept up the genus as defined in the 
‘« Synopsis Filicum,’’ but the tendency of authors is to separate it into five or 
six or even more separate genera, mainly based on differences in the indusium. 
If these views are followed, D. Tasmani is the only one of the New Zealand 
species that would be retained in the restricted genus Davallia, D. nove-zea- 
landi@ constituting the genus Leptolepia of Mettenius, and D. Forsteri falling 
into Odontosoria of Pres}. 
Fronds 4-12in., broadly deltoid, thick and coriaceous ; 
ultimate segments oblong, obtuse. Indusium cup- 
shaped, attached by the sides as well as the base .. Ll. Di Pasmann. 
Fronds about 6in., rhomboid, subcoriaceous ; ultimate seg- 
ments ligulate-cuneate. Indusium pouch-shaped, at- 
tached by the sides as well as the base 2. D. Forsteri. 
Fronds 12-24 in., ovate-oblong to deltoid, firm but hardly 
coriaceous, very finely cut; ultimate segments narrow, 
acute. Indusium Boas ovate, attached ae the base 
only ae 30 fe .. 3. D. nove-zea- 
landie. 
1. D. Tasmani, Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 416. 
—Rhizome long, stout, as thick as the finger, wide - creeping, 
densely clothed with chestnut-brown subulate ciliated scales. 
Stipes strong, rigid, smooth, 3-9in. long. Fronds 4-12in. long, 
53-9 in. broad, broadly deltoid or pentagonal, very thick and cori- 
aceous, quite smooth and glabrous, 2-3-pinnatifid. Lower pinnee 
much the largest, broadly deltoid or rhomboidal; upper narrower, 
ovate or lanceolate. Pinnules oblong, cut down nearly to the base 
into 6-9 segments; segments short, oblong, obtuse. Sori very 
numerous, usually one to each segment, marginal, the segment 
usually produced on the outer side into a stout projecting horn. 
Indusium narrow cup-shaped, attached by the sides as well as the 
base.—Fueld, N.Z. Ferns, 75, t. 24, f. 5; Bak. in Ann. Bot. v. 
(1890-91) 201. 
