992 FILICES. [Asplentwm. 
In the “Synopsis Filicum”’ A. lucidum, together with A. obliquwm, is. 
reduced to the position of a variety of A. obtusatwm. This view has since been 
accepted by most pteridologists, mainly, I presume, on account of the undoubted 
fact that the three plants are more or less connected by transitional forms. But 
var. scleroprium also connects A. lucidwm with A. flaccidwm, while var. Lyallit 
offers a passage to A. bulbiferwm, so that by parity of reasoning these two species 
should be included. This reduction was actually proposed by the late Baron 
Mueller in his Chatham Islands Florula (p. 66), but has found no followers. As 
arbitrary distinctions must in any case be employed, and as the differences. 
between the typical A. lucidum and A. obtusatum are quite as well marked 
as those between several species of Aspleniwm universally admitted, I have 
retained both species in this work. A. obliqwuwm has generally been placed with. 
A. obtusatum, but its position is really a matter of taste, and to me it seems to 
fall more naturally under A. lacidwm. 
In addition to New Zealand, A. lwcidwm is found in Norfolk Island, Lord 
Howe Island, Australia, and some of the Polynesian islands. 
7. A. Hookerianum, Col. in Tasmanian Journ. Nat. Sci. 
(1845) 9.—Rhizome short, stout, rounded, emitting numerous fibrous 
roots, clothed at the top with subulate-lanceolate brownish scales. 
Stipes 1-4in. long or more, greenish or greenish-grey, more or 
less clothed with deciduous scales, becoming almost glabrous. 
when old. Fronds tufted at the top of the rhizome, spreading, 
2-10 in. long without the stipes, 1-41n. broad, oblong-lanceolate 
to broadly ovate or ovate-deltoid, acuminate, dark-green, herbaceous: 
or almost membranous, pinnate or bipinnate; rhachis and under- 
surface more or less scaly. Pinne 4-12 pairs, the largest 1-3 in. 
long, distinctly stipitate, pinnate, or in small specimens pinnatifid 
or deeply lobed. Pinnules rather remote, on long slender petioles, 
usually rounded or rhomboid with a cuneate base, more rarely 
narrower and cuneate-oblong, irregularly toothed or lobed or even 
pinnatifid, rarely again pinnate. Veins subflabellate, forked. Sori 
2-5 on a pinnule, short, oblong, remote from the margin.—Hook. 
Sp. Fal. i. 194; Moore, Ind. Fil. 186; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 
372; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 218; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 747; 
Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 75; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 120, t. 16, f. 4a. 
A. adiantoides, Raoul, Choix, 10, t. 1. (notof Raddz). A. adiantoides: 
var. minus, Hook. f. Ic. Plant. t. 983. A. adiantoides var. Hooker- 
ianum, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 35. A. Raoulii var. minus, Met. 
Aspl. 118. A. ornatum, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 452. 
Var. Colensoi, Moore, Ind. Fil. 137. — Fronds pale-green, usually flaccid.. 
Pinnules on shorter stalks, deeply and finely pinnatifid ; segments linear, each 
with a single vein. Sori oblong, solitary on the margin of the segments.— 
Hook.f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 373; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 75; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 120, 
t. 27, f.1. A. Colensoi, Hook. f. in Lond. Journ. Bot. ili. (1844) 26; Hook. and 
Bak. Syn. Fil. 219. A. adiantoides var. Colensoi, Hook. f. Ic. Plant. t. 984; 
Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 835. A. Richardi var. Colensoi, Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 197. 
Nortu anp Sour Isnanps: From Mongonui and Kaitaia to the south of © 
Otago, but often local. Sea-level to 2500 ft. 
