Plate 245. NEPHRODIUM HISPIDUM. 



Family FILICES] [Genus NEPHRODIUM, Rich. 



Nephrodium hispidum, Hook. Sji. Fil. iv, 150 ; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 378 ; Cheesem. Man. 

 jg N.Z. Fl. 1004. 



All travellers in the lowland forests of New Zealand are well acquainted 

 with this beautiful fern, which at once attracts attention, wherever it may be 

 seen, by its large finely cut fronds and the copious stifi' black hairs on the 

 rhachis and stipes. As with most widely distributed lowland plants that 

 reach the coast-line, it was originally collected by Banks and Solander during 

 Cook's first voyage. Solander, in his manuscript " Flora of New Zealand," gave 

 it the name of Polyvodmm setosum, and states that it was found " in sylvis 

 Novas-Zealandias prope Tolaga, Opuragi, Totaranui." It was also gathered 

 by Forster in Cook's second voyage, and in his " Prodromus " he retained 

 Solander's most appropriate name. l-nfortunateiy, however, it had been 

 previously applied by Thunberg to a Japanese plant, and Swartz, in 1800, 

 consequently selected the almost equally characteristic name of Asjndium 

 hispidum. Since then it has been placed by turns in the genera Lastrea, 

 Nephrodium, and Polystichum, and its systematic position may still be looked 

 upon as unsettled. 



The geographical range of Nephrodium hispidum stretches from the 

 North Cape to the south of Stewart Island, and within those limits it is pre- 

 sent in almost all forests of any size below an altitude of, say, 2,000 ft. It 

 is most abundant on sloping hillsides on rather dry ground, and often covers 

 considerable areas, its long- and stout wide-creeping rhizomes sending up 

 numerous fronds. Unlike its allies yV. decompositum. and A', velutinum, which 

 prefer light bush or the outskirts of forests, N. hispidum is evidently more at 

 home in much denser and more deeply shaded tracts of woodland. Its dark 

 olive-brown fronds are sometimes curiously (but slightly) mottled or varie- 

 gated with lighter shades. It is easily cultivated, and does well in any 

 shaded bush-house if care is taken to provide good drainage and plenty of 

 room for its long running rhizomes. 



Plate 24.5. Nephrodium hispidum, drawn from specimens collected on the Waitakarei Ranges 

 near Auckland. Fig. 1, portion of rhachis, showing the stiff bristles (x 3) ; 2, tip of pinnule, showing 

 the sori ( x 6) ; 3, a single segment, with two sori ( x 8) ; 4, indusium (enlarged) ; 5, two sporangia 

 (enlarged). 



