984 FILICES. [Lomaria. 
13. L. membranacea, Col. ex Hook. Sp. Fl. iii. 34, t. 1456.— 
Rhizome short, stout, suberect, clothed with the bases of the old 
stipites mixed with a few subulate scales. Stipes very short, scaly 
at the base. Fronds tufted at the top of the rhizome, the sterile 
ones 3-10in. long, #-14in. broad, lanceolate or lnear-lanceolate, 
acuminate, broadest above the middle, gradually narrowed to the 
base, rather membranous, pale- green, quite glabrous, pinnate; 
rhachis smooth, naked. Pinnz numerous, spreading or erecto- 
patent, the longest $-?in. long, about +in. broad, ovate-oblong or 
oblong, obtuse, broadly adnate at the base but not dilated nor decur- 
rent, coarsely dentate-serrate, the lower quite distinct at the base, 
gradually becoming smaller and eventually reduced to mere rounded 
auricles, the uppermost more or less confluent. Tertile fronds 
usually longer than the sterile and with longer stipites, pinnate ; 
pinne distant, 4-41in. long, linear, apiculate.——Hook. f. Handb. 
N.Z. Fl. 366 ; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Ful.181; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 69 ; 
Field, N.Z. Ferns, 111, t. 5, f. 6, 64. LL. oligoneuron, Col. an Trans. 
N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 346. lL. intermedia, Col. l.c. xix. (1887) 274; 
L. pygmea, Col. l.c. xxv. (1893) 322. Blechnum membranaceum, 
Mett. 
NortH Isuanp: Shaded places by the banks of streams, not uncommon 
throughout. SourH Is~anp: In various localities along the east coast from 
Nelson to Otago, but apparently rare and Jocal. Sea-level to 2000 ft. 
Large forms of this, with longer and narrower pinnz rather more closely 
placed, are difficult to distinguish from L. lanceolata, if, indeed, the two species 
do not pass directly into one another. In its usual state, however, it is a much 
smaller plant, with shorter and broader obtuse pinne, distinctly separated from 
one another, and not dilated at the base or decurrent as in lanceolata. I have 
seen no specimens from Canterbury or Otago. 
14. L. Fraseri, A. Cunn. Precuwr. n. 185.— Rhizome erect, 
clothed with the bases of the old stipites and with a dense tuft of 
dark chestnut-brown scales at the tip, often elongated into a 
slender caudex 6—24in. high or more, resembling-the trunk of a 
miniature tree-fern. Stipes 3-9in. high, scaly towards the base. 
Fronds forming a spreading crown at the top of the caudex, 
9-18in. long, 3-—6in. broad, ovate or ovate - oblong to ovate- 
lanceolate, acuminate, quite glabrous, almost membranous or sub- 
coriaceous, bipinnate; rhachis with a narrow interrupted wing 
furnished with numerous triangular lobes. Pinnze 2-3in. long, 
1-2 in. broad, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, cut down 
almost to the rhachis. Pinnules numerous, close-set, ++in. long, 
linear-oblong, somewhat falcate, acute or apiculate, entire or serrate. 
Veins indistinct, simple or forked. Fertile fronds similar to the 
sterile, but rather smaller and with narrower pinnules. Sori cover- 
ing the whole under-surface.—Raoul, Choiz, 37; Hook. Ic. Plant. 
t. 185; Sp. Ful. iii. 40; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1.31; Handb. N.Z. 
Fl. 369; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 182; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 70; 
Field, N.Z. Ferns, 111, t. 24, f. 4, 44. Blechnum Fraseri, Metten. 
