Aspleniwm.| FILICES. 993 
A variable little plant, said to be found also in New South Wales and Vic- 
toria, but I have seen no specimens from thence. Var. Colensoi was placed 
with A. Richardi by Sir W. J. Hooker, and is retained as a distinct species by 
Mr. Baker in the ‘‘ Synopsis Filicum.” But, as stated by Mr. Field (N.Z. Ferns, 
120), it often grows intermixed with the type, and occasionally the fronds of both 
forms can be found on the same plant. Mr. Colenso’s A. ornatwm is simply a 
state with the pinnules rather narrower than usual, and on longer stalks. 
8. A. bulbiferum, Forst. Prodr. n. 433.—Rhizome short, stout, 
erect or oblique, crowned with linear - subulate scales. Stipes 
4-12in. long or more, compressed or semiterete, usually dark- 
brown and denselv scaly at the base, above green or greyish-green 
and either naked or deciduously scaly. Fronds 1-4 ft. long, 
6-12in. broad, ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, 
bright-green, scarcely membranous but flaccid, 2-3-pinnate or im 
small specimens pinnate; rhachis compressed, often scaly when 
young. Primary pinne numerous, horizontal, 3-6 in. long, 1-14in. 
broad, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, often proliferous 
on the upper surface, cut down to a narrowly winged rhachis into 
numerous secondary divisions or pinnules. Pinnules 4-14 in. long, 
lanceolate to ovate-oblong, deeply pinnatifid; ultimate segments 
linear-oblong, entire or toothed. Sori short, oblique, oblong, on 
the dise of the shortly lobed pinnules, but often marginal on the seg- 
ments of the more deeply divided ones.—A. Arch. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 
75; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 198; Raoul, Choiz, 38; Hook. Ic. Plant. 
t. 423; Sp. Pol. iii. 196; Homb. and Jacq. Voy. au Péle Sud, Crypt. 
t. oa, £15 Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. u. 34; Handb. N.Z.: Fl. 373; 
Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 218; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 748 ; Thoms. 
N.Z. Ferns, 75; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 121, t. 6, f. d. 
Var. laxum, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 11. 34.—Fronds smaller and more 
slender, with narrower and more remote pinnz. Pinnules more deeply divided ; 
segments narrow-linear. Sori often marginal.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 373; Hook. 
Sp. Fil. iii. 196; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 218. A. laxum, &. br. Prodr. 151; 
Homb. and Jacq. Voy. au Péle Sud, Crypt. t.3,f.J. A. gracillimum, Col. in 
Trans. N.Z Inst. xxii. (1890) 453. (?)A. triste, Raoul, Choix, 10. 
Var. tripinnatum, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 34.—Fronds ample, tripinnate, 
with narrow pinnules and segments resembling some forms of A. flaccidum, but 
more compound and texture thinner. Sori marginal on the segments.—Handb. 
N.Z. Fl. 373; Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 196. A. tremulum, Homb. and Jacq. Voy. au 
Péle Sud, Crypt. t. 3 bis. 
NortH anpd SourH IsnAnps, CHATHAM ISLANDS, STEWART ISLAND, ANTI- 
popes Isnanp: Abundant throughout, especially in damp woods. Moku. 
Sea-level to 3000 ft. 
The typical state of A. bulbiferwm is a well-known plant throughout the 
whole of New Zealand, and is at once distinguished from the other species of 
the genus by the ample dark-green bipinnate fronds with comparatively broad 
pinnules, and especially by its habit of producing small bulbils on the upper 
surface of the frond, which develop into young plants while still attached to 
the frond. When the bulbils are not developed, and the frond is more slender, 
with narrower and more Geeply divided pinnules, so that the sori are often 
almost marginal, the plant becomes var. lawwm. This runs into several small 
32—F 
