1024 FILICES. [| Todea. 
28. TODEA, Willd. 
Rhizome stout, erect, sometimes forming a short thick trunk. 
Fronds tufted at the top of the rhizome, large, coriaceous and 
opaque, or membranous or pellucid, 2-3-pinnate. Veins simple or 
forked, not anastomosing. Sori on the under-surface of the frond, 
of few or many sporangia, placed upon the lateral veinlets proceed- 
ing from the costa, either large and covering the greater part of the 
veinlet, or small and placed at its base. Indusium wanting. Spo- 
rangia short-stalked or nearly sessile, splitting vertically, ring rudi- 
mentary, transverse. 
A small genus of 5 or 6 species, found in Australia, New Zealand, Mela- 
nesia, and South Africa. One of the New Zealand species extends both to 
Australia and South Africa, the remaining two are endemic. Although I have 
followed Mr. Baker in reducing Leptopteris to a section ot Todea, I am inclined 
to think that it would be better treated as a distinct genus. 
A. Yodea. Fronds coriaceows, opaque. Sori large, of numerous sporangia. 
Fronds 2-6 ft. long, 2-pinnate .. ts as .. 1. 2. barbara. 
B. Leptopteris. Fronds membranous, pellucid. Sori small, of few sporangia. 
Fronds 1-2 ft. long, truncate at the base, the lower pinne 
not reduced in size .. BD be “i .. 2. 7. hymenophyl- 
loides. 
Fronds 13-4 ft. long, narrowed at the base, the lower 
pinne gradually reduced in size es 
3. T. superba. 
1. T. barbara, Moore, Ind. Fil. 95.—Rhizome stout, erect, some- 
times forming a trunk as muchas 4ft. high and 2ft. diam. Stipes. 
1-2ft. long or more, stout, erect, quite smooth. Fronds 2-4 it. 
long, 9-12in. broad, oblong-lanceolate, acute, dark-green, coria- 
ceous, opaque, quite glabrous, 2-pinnate. Primary pinne numerous, 
close, erecto-patent, 4-10 in. long or more, $—2 in. broad, lanceolate. 
Pinnules 1-14in. long, 4-}in. broad, linear or linear-lanceolate, 
acute, serrate, the uppermost confluent. Sori towards the base of 
the frond, usually occupying nearly the whole of the under-surface 
of the lower pinnules of the lower pinne, the remainder of the 
frond sterile.-—Hook. and Bak. Syn, Fil. 427; Bot. Mag. t. 5954; 
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 699; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 938; Field, N.Z. 
Ferns, 148, t. 26, f. 1. T. africana, Willd. in Schrift. Acad. zu 
Erfurt (1802) 14, t. 3, f. 1; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 48 and 338; 
Fl. Tasm. ii. 158, t. 178; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 384. Osmunda barbara, 
Thunb. Fl. Cap. 171. Acrostichum barkarum, Linn. Sp. Plant. 
1529. 
NortH Isnanp: Auckland—Abundant in open gullies from the North Cape 
to Mongonui, and from thence more sparingly southwards to Whangaroa. 
Also in Australia, from Queensland to Tasmania, and in South Africa. In 
Australia the rhizome is often enlarged into a short and massive trunk some- 
times weighing as much as a ton anda half, but I have seen no New Zealand 
specimens as large. 
