Plate 242.— LOMAKIA FKA8EK1. 



Family FILICES.] [Genus LOMARIA, Willd. 



Lomaria Fraseri, A. Cunn. Frecur. n. 185 ; Oheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 984. 



According to Allan Cunningham, Lomaria Fraseri was lirst collected in 

 1825 at the Bay of Islands by Mr. C. Fraser, then Superintendent of the Sydney 

 Botanical Gardens. Shortly afterwards it was also gathered by both the Cun- 

 ninghams, and by most of the botanists who in the hrst half of the nineteenth 

 century investigated the flora of the northern portion of the North Island. 

 It was first published by Allan Cunningham in his " Precursor," under the 

 very appropriate name of its first discoverer. Its chief centre of distribu- 

 tion is from the Waikato River northwards to the North Cape. Within this 

 area it is plentiful in all forests of any size, especially where the soil is dry 

 and the drainage good. It is particularly abundant in kauri forests, possibly 

 from the reason that such forests are less encumbered with dense undergrowth 

 than others, and consequently afford more room and rather more light, two 

 conditions which are favourable for the growth of the plant. Proceeding 

 south from Auckland it extends to the Bay of Plenty on the east coast and 

 to Taranaki on the west. So far as I am aware, it has never been gathered 

 in any part of the Hawke's Bay or Wellington Provincial Districts, but it 

 reappears in the north-west of the South Island, extending from Collingwood 

 and West Wanganui to Westport and Charleston, where it apparently attains 

 its southern limit. 



Lomaria Fraseri has a very distinct habit and appearance, and in many 

 northern districts affects the physiognomy of the forest vegetation to no small 

 degree. It usually forms large patches, which in some cases may be as 

 much as half an acre in extent, and its slender erect caudex or stem rises to 

 a height varying from 1 ft. to 3 ft. or more. These stems are half an inch 

 or thereabouts in diameter, covered at the base with the ragged bases of the 

 old stipites, and bearing at the top a crown of stifl' dark-green fronds. A 

 well - developed specimen thus presents the appearance of a miniature tree- 

 fern, the resemblance being: so close that several of the earlier explorers (as, 

 for instance, Dr. Brackenridge, one of the naturalists to the United States 

 Exploring Expedition) often speak of it under that name. 



L. Fraseri occurs in the Philippine Islands, but so far has not been found 

 in any intermediate locality. 



Plate 242. Lomaria Fraseri, drawn from specimen.s gathered in tho Waitakarei Ranges, near 

 Auckland. Fig. 1, scale from the caudex ; 2, portion of pinna of sterile frond ; 3, upper .surface of 

 portion of pinna from fertile frond ; 4, under-surface of same, showing the sori ; 5, cross-section of 

 fertile segment ; 6, a single sporangium. (All enlarged.) 



