10 



ELOUA OT NEW ZEALAND. [Fihces. 



profunde pinnatifidis linearibus acutis, segmentis brevibus pungentibus grosse argute serratis, soris quovis 

 lobulo sub-4, involucri valvis Eequalibus. D. fibrosa, Colenso in Tasm. Jonrn. Hook Sp. Ml. v. 1. p. 68, 

 t. 23 B. 



Hab. Northern Island : East Coast, Wairarapa Valley, Te-waiite, and Mohaka, Colenso. Nat. names, 

 " Weki-ponga" and " Tuhirunga," Col. (Cultivated at Kew.) 



This, the D. Antarctica of Tasmania, has the trunk covered with matted rootlets, which increase its bulk con- 

 siderably, to 20 inches in New Zealand according to Mr. Colenso, who alone has gathered this species there, and to 

 4 feet in Tasmania, where its trunk attains 40 feet elevation. Mr. Colenso adds that it grows 18 feet high, that 

 the fibrous coat is sliced and used in constructing houses, etc., that the fronds spread and are very few in number.— 

 Stipes smooth, pale, glabrous ; partial rachis and midribs on both surfaces more or less clothed with soft spreading 

 hairs, which are very deciduous. Fronds apparently 6-8 feet long, lanceolate, narrowed downwards, bipinnate, 

 less coriaceous than in D. squarrosa. Pinna 10 inches long, 11 inch broad, narrowed into long tips. Pin- 

 nules sessile, f-1 inch long, linear or linear-oblong, acute, pinnatifid, the barren ones cut beyond the middle, the 

 fertile to the base. Segments oblong, sharp, and sharply toothed. Sort about four on each segment ; valves of the 

 involucre hemispherical, equal.— If this differs from D. Antarctica in any particular, it is in the more hairy rachis 

 and sharper lobes of the segments in some of the specimens ; but neither Sir W. Hooker, Mr. J. Smith, nor I, can 

 point out any difference whatever between the majority of the New Zealand and Tasmanian individuals. 



3. Dicksonia lanata, Col. ; stipite glaberrimo lsevi basi pilis ferrugineis branneisve molliter lanato et 

 crinito, rachibus lanatis glaberrimisve, fronde coriacea bipinnata ovato-lanceolata, pinnis oblongo-lanceolatis 

 acuminatis, pinnulis sessilibus sterilibns pinnatifidis fertilibus pinnatis contractis, segmentis breviter ob- 

 longis obtusis pungentibusve obtuse et profunde 2-4-crenatis v. lobatis, soris sub-4 segmenta occludenti- 

 bus, involucris subcequalibus hemisphsericis.— Colenso in Tasm. Joum. Root Sp. Fil. p. 69. t. 23 C. 

 Hab. Northern Island : Bay of Islands, east coast and interior, Cunningham, Colenso, etc. 

 A very variable species in size and amount of woolly hairs on the rachis and midribs of the pinnules, the 

 hairs being sometimes copious and matted into a soft yellow-brown wool, at others wholly absent, when the plant is 

 perfectly glabrous. Like very many other Terns, and some of its congeners in various parts of the world, the 

 development of its caudex is far from constant. The trunk sometimes rises four feet high, but generally it is quite 

 inconspicuous or absent ; indeed the habit of the plant is not that of a Tree-fern, and Mr. Colenso remarks that at 

 Lake Taupo it covers the ground, growing like Pteris. Having examined the plant in its native state, I have no 

 hesitation in referring the stemless to the subarboreous species.— Fronds 1-7 feet long, of a very coriaceous, thick, 

 but not rigid texture, bi-tripinnate, broadly lanceolate or ovate. Stipes clothed at the base with long, dark brown, 

 purplish, or yellowish, soft silky hairs, £ inch long ; upper parts of stipes and main rachis quite smooth and glabrous. 

 Pinna 5-14 inches long, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate. Pinnules sessile, 1\-H inches long, linear, acuminate ; 

 ban-en ones pinnatifid to beyond the middle ; fertile much contracted, pinnate. Segments short, oblong, blunt, or 

 ending in a short pungent point ; margin deeply out into about four very blunt soriferous teeth. Sort covering the 

 whole under surface of the frond. Involucre of two nearly equal hemispherical valves. 



Tribe III. HYMENOPHYLLEiE. — Sorus at or beyond the edge of the frond. Capsules sessile, on a fili- 

 form or club-shaped, often elongated, receptacle, girt with an oblique ring. Frond very delicate, 

 transparent, and reticulated [except in Loxsorna). Gen. V. to VII. 



Gen. V. HYMBNOPHTLLUM, 8m. 



Sori marginales. Capsula receptaculo cylindraceo fronde immerso v. exserto subsessilcs, depress*, 

 annulo complete transverse cincta:, longitudinaliter ruptae. Involucrum textura frondis, bivalve, urceolatum 



