1028 FILICES. [Ophioglossum. 
2.0. vulgatum, Linn. Sp. Plant. 1518. — Rhizome short, 
cylindric, often knotty; roots long, fleshy. Fronds 1-2 from the 
rhizome, 4—12in. long including the petiole and fertile spike; the 
sterile lamina placed near the middle or slightly below it, 3-3in. 
long, 4-14in. broad, ovate or ovate-lanceolate or ovate-rhomboid, 
obtuse or subacute, truncate or cuneate at the base, rather fleshy, 
venation reticulated. Fertile spike #-14in. long, on a slender 
peduncle inserted just below the sterile lamina and much overtop- 
ping it. .Sporangia variable in number, 15-50 in each row.—Hook. 
f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 50, and Handb. N.Z. Fl. 386 (in part) ; Hook. 
and Bak. Syn. Fil. 445; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 98; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 
155, t. 21, f. 6. O. costatum, &. Br. Prodr. 163. O. elongatum, 
A. Cunn. Precur. n. 162. 
NortTH AND SoutH Isnuanps, CHATHAM IsLANDS: From the North Cape to 
Foveaux Strait, plentiful in moist grassy places, by the margins of swamps, &c. 
Sea-level to 2000 ft. 
As defined by Hooker and Baker in the ‘‘ Synopsis Filicum ”’ this is almost 
cosmopolitan ; but by many authors it is split up into a considerable number of 
species with a more restricted range. Most of the New Zealand forms corre- 
spond with O. costatwm, R. Br. (O. elongatwm, A. Cunn.), which is kept up as a 
distinct species by Prantl, under the name of O. pedwinculoswm, Desv., and 
which ranges from New Zealand and Australia northwards to Malaya, Ceylon, 
India, Philippines, and Japan. 
31. BOTRYCHIUM, Swartz. 
Rhizome short, suberect, emitting numerous long fleshy branching 
roots. Fronds solitary or rarely two at the top of the rhizome, not 
circinate, stipitate, thick and fleshy, composed of two divisions: the 
posterior sterile, pinnate or 2-3-pinnate or decompound ; the an- 
terior fertile, of numerous branched spikes forming a pedunculate 
panicle, the peduncle usually long, inserted on the petiole below the 
sterile lamina. Sporangia closely packed and sessile in two rows 
along the branches of the panicle, free, globose, not annulate, de- 
hiscing by a transverse slit ; spores numerous, tetrahedral. 
Species variously estimated at from 6 to 15, according to the different views 
of authors. Found in most temperate or extratropical regions, rare in very hot 
climates. Both the New Zealand species are widely distributed. 
Sterile segment of the frond simply pinnate; fertile bi- 
pinnate Zip 1. B. lunaria. 
Sterile and fertile segments both decompound = .. 2. B. ternatum. 
1. B. lunaria, Swartz, Syn. Fil. 171.—Rhizome short, tuberous. 
Fronds solitary at the top of the rhizome or rarely 2 together, 
38-6 in. high; stipes stout, terete, glabrous, with 1 or 2 brownish 
sheathing scales at the base. Sterile lamina at about the middle of 
the frond, 2-3 in. long, 4-1 in. broad, oblong or linear-oblong, rather 
fleshy, simply pinnate; pinne 3-6 pairs, close-set, lunate or flabel- 
