Aspidium. | FILICES. 1001 
7. A. aristatum, Swartz, Syn. Fil. 53.—Rhizome long, stout, 
creeping, clothed with linear-subulate ferruginous scales. Stipes 
9-18 in. long, stout, densely clothed towards the base with linear 
fibrillose scales. Fronds scattered, 1-2 ft. long by 9-12in. broad, 
ovate-deltoid, acuminate, coriaceous, dark-green and glossy, both 
surfaces naked, 3-pinnate; rhachis glabrous or sparingly palea- 
ceous. Primary pinne stipitate, lanceolate, acuminate, pinnate or 
2-pinnate; the lowest pair the longest, 6—9in. long, lanceolate- 
deltoid, with an elongated basal pinnule. Pinnules obliquely ovate- 
lanceolate or narrow ovate-rhomboid, irregularly dentate with the 
teeth ending in bristle-like points. Sori rather small, in 2 rows 
near the midrib. Indusium smooth, flat, orbicular or rarely slightly 
reniform.—Hook. Sp. Fu. iv. 27; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 376; 
Hook. ana Bak. Syn. Fil. 255; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 757; Thoms. 
N.Z. Ferns, 80. Polystichum aristatum, Presl. Tent. Pterid. 83 
(not of Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 11. 37). Polypodium aristatum, Forst. 
Prodr. n. 448. 
Kermapec Isuanps: Sunday Island, abundant, MacGillivray, T. F.C. 
A most abundant Polynesian plant, also found in tropical Australia, Malaya, 
_ India, China, Japan, and South Africa. 
20. NEPHRODIUM, Rich. 
Rhizome short and tufted or longand creeping. Fronds crowded 
at the top of the rhizome or scattered along it, very various in size 
and form, frequently pinnate with the pinne pinnatifid, or 2--3- 
pinnate or decompound. Veins all free, or the lower veinlets in a 
lobe united by their tips to those of the adjoining lobes, or (in 
species not found in New Zealand) copiously anastomosing. Sori 
subglobose, dorsal, placed on the back or at the tip of a vein. In- 
dusium cordate or reniform, attached by the sinus, membranous, 
concealing the sorus when young. Sporangia stalked, surrounded 
by an incomplete vertical ring, bursting transversely. 
Understood in the sense of the ‘‘ Synopsis Filicum,”’ this is the largest genus 
of ferns after Polypodiwm, including over 400 species, and quite cosmopolitan in 
its distribution. Of the 8 species found in New Zealand, 6 are widely spread, 
1 extends to Australia alone, the remaining 1 appears to be endemic. 
Subgenus I. Lastrea. Veins and veinlets all free. 
* Fronds lanceolate or linear-oblong, pinnate with the pinne pinnatifid. 
Rhizome long, creeping. Fronds 6-12 in. long, membran- 
ous, glabrous except a few scales on the under-surface of 
the rhachis and cost 56 ec sa .. L. N. Thelypteris. 
** Fronds broadly ovate or deltoid, 2-3-pinnate or decompound. 
Rhizome long, creeping. Fronds 9-18in., pale-green, 
finely pubescent. Stipes pubescent .. A Se 
Rhizome short, tufted. Fronds 6-14in., dark-green, 
glabrous except the rhachis and cost. Stipes nearly 
glabrous ee oe ne oc 
2. N. decompositum. 
3. N. glabellum. 
