Loemaria.| FILICES. 983 
blackish-green or lurid-green, brittle when dry, glabrous or the 
margins and under-surface more or less clothed with short rufous 
hairs, lvrate-pinnatifid, pinnate at the base; rhachis usually densely 
pubescent. Pinne 4-8 pairs, unequal in size; the terminal one 
much the largest, 1-2 in. long, oblong, obtuse, irregularly lobed or 
sinuate ; the lateral +-$in. long, oblong to orbicular-oblong, irregu- 
larly sinuate, the lowest pair larger than those immediately above, 
and often stipitate and deflexed. Fertile fronds few, erect, pin- 
nate; pinne few, distant, narrow-linear, apiculate, the terminal one 
elongated, the lateral much shorter.—Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 960; Sp. 
Pies); Fook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1. 31; Handd. N.Z. Fl. 369: 
Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fl. 181; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 69; Field, N.Z. 
Ferns, 110, t. 25, f. 4, 44. Polybotrya nana, Fee. Acrost. t. 38, f. 1. 
Blechnum nigrum, Mett. 
NorrH Istanp: Dark gloomy forests from Whangarei southwards, not 
common. SoutruH Istanp: Nelson—Collingwood, D. Grant; Takaka and West 
Wanganui, Kingsley. Westland—Abundant at low elevations, Hnys! A. 
Hamilton! J. W. Brame! &c. Otago—Milford Sound, Bligh’s Sound, Lyall, 
Hector and Buchanan. Sea-level to 3000 ft. 
Easily recognised by the enlarged terminal portion of the frond, which is 
often only shallowly lobed, while the lower pinne are usually distinct from one 
another. The surface of the frond is often overgrown with mosses or hepatice, 
in the same manner as in T’richomanes elongatum. 
12. L. fluviatilis, Spreng. Syst. Veg. iv. 65.—Rhizome stout, 
suberect, often woody, densely clothed with the bases of the old 
stipites and with chestnut-brown subulate scales. Stipes very 
short, densely scaly. Sterile fronds very numerous, forming a 
broad spreading crown at the top of the rhizome, 1-2} ft. high, 
#-14in. broad, linear or linear-lanceolate, submembranous, pale 
brownish-green, pinnate throughout; rhachis densely clothed with 
spreading subulate scales. Pinne very numerous, 20-50 pairs, 
4-in. long, +-41in. broad, oblong to orbicular-oblong, obtuse, not 
decurrent, the lower more remote and often shortly stipitate, the 
upper sessile, the uppermost usually adnate; margins thin, sinuate 
or denticulate. Fertile fronds narrow-linear, erect; pinnae 4~2 in. 
long, in. broad, linear, obtuse, erecto-patent.—Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 
34; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 11. 28; Fl. Tasm. ii. 142, t. 167; Handb. 
N.Z. Fl. 366 ; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 181; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 
1736; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 69; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 109, t. 27, f. 2, Qa. 
L. rotundifolia, Raoul, Choix, 9, t. 23; Col. in Tasmanian Journ. 
Nat. Sei. (1845) 19. Stegania fluviatilis, &. Br. Prodr. 152. 
Blechnum fluviatile, Mett. 
NorrH anp SoutH IsLnAnps, CHATHAM IsLANDS, STEWART IsLAND: From 
Hokianga and Whangaroa southwards, not uncommon in damp hilly forests. 
Sea-level to 2500 ft. 
Also in Victoria and Tasmania. A crested form is occasionally seen, and 
has been described by Mr. Colenso as var. ramosa (Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx. 225). 
