Filices^] 



FLORA OP NEW ZEALAND. 



11 



v. compressum, valvis planis v. convexis, extus liberis.— Frondes membranacem, jpelhcidm, cellulis magnis 

 reticulata, costa valida percursas. 



One of the largest and most beautiful genera of Perns, generally of small size, easily recognized (except from 

 Trichomanes and Todea) by the transparent pellucid texture of the delicate green glistening fronds, which are beauti- 

 fully reticulated under the microscope. Upon the whole, the New Zealand species are the finest in the genus : they 

 almost invariably grow in damp forests.— RMzoma slender or stout, wiry, filiform, creeping. Fronds generally 

 glabrous, often flaccid, pinnately or pinnatifidly divided into linear, blunt, dichotomously branched segments, through 

 which runs a stout midrib. Son at the axils or ends of the segments, sunk in the substance of the frond, which 

 forms a cup-shaped or box-like, often flattened, two-valved involucre over them. Sometimes the involucre is pro- 

 duced beyond the frond and stalked ; its two valves or lips are entire or toothed, and open outwards. Capsules ses- 

 sile, on a filiform or cylindrical receptacle, that is sometimes exserted, like a thread, beyond the involucre ; sessile, 

 depressed, surrounded with a complete ring, and bursting longitudinally. (Name from v M v, a membrane, and 4>v\\ov, 

 a leaf.) 



§ A. Fronds quite glabrous ; margins toothed or serrate, not ciliate. 



1. Hymenophyllum Tunbridgense, Sm. ; parvulum, frondibus csespitosis erectis curvis depressisve 

 ovatis linearibusve pinnatis, pinnis verticalibus glaberrimis pinnatifidis, laciniis late linearibus simplicibus 

 bifidisve spmuloso-clentatis, involucris supra-axillaribus solitariis subcompressis basi cuneata fronde immersis, 

 valvis erosis v. spinuloso-dentatis, rachi superne alata.— Smith, Fl. Brit. Engl. Sot. t. 162. A. Rich. Flor. 

 A. Omm. Prodr. Hook. Sp. Ml. v. 1. p. 95. 



Var. /3. cupressiforme ; fronde elongata erecta rigida, pinnis distantibus decurvis, segmentis angustis- 

 simis, involucris lobulo frondis quasi stipitatis liberis.— Booh. Sp. Ml. I. c. H. cupressiforme, Lab. Fl. Nov. 

 Holl. p. 102. t. 250./. 2. H. Tunbridgense, Br. Prodr. H. revolutum, Col. in Tasm. Phil. Jowm. 



Hab. Throughout the Islands ; from the Bay of Islands, Cunningham, etc., to the Southern Island, 

 Lyall. Growing on rocks and roots of trees, etc. (A native of England.) 



This is a scarce English Pern, and a great favourite with cultivators. Dr. Lyall's specimens precisely resemble 

 the English in their pale glistening green hue, short ovate fronds, 1-2 inches long, and broad segments ; but the 

 more common state of this species in New Zealand, Tasmania, and other regions, has a narrower and more decum- 

 bent frond, often remarkably curved downwards on to the ground, and narrower segments. It has been found in 

 many temperate and some tropical latitudes, the Azores, Madeira, South Africa, North India, Chili, Brazil, and 

 Tasmania.— Fronds ovate or linear, pinnate below, piunatifid (rachis winged) above, quite glabrous. Pinna closely 

 imbricated or distant ; segments long or short, spreading or curved downwards, deeply sharply toothed. Involucre 

 orbicular, compressed, at the axils of the segments, erect, projecting beyond the frond, in which their bases are sunk, 

 their lips spinulose or irregularly toothed.— The var. /3 is a taller, erect plant, sometimes U inches high, with 

 very narrow, distant, decurved, rigid pinna?, whose margins are often recurved, and the involucres hence project 

 conspicuously upwards from the frond. It differs from II. unilateral, Willd., only in the spinulose lips of the 

 involucre. 



2. Hymenophyllum unilaterale, Willd.; frondibus csespitosis lineari-oblongis pinnatis erectis decur- 

 visve, pinnis distantibus decurvis margine superiore prsecipue parce pinnatifidis, segmentis linearibus argute 

 dentatis simplicibus pinnatifidisve, involucris supra-axillaribus liberis obovato-oblongis tumidis, valvis 

 integerrimis, rachi superne alata. H. unilaterale, Willd. Sp. PI. v. b.p. 521. H. Wilsoni, Hook. Brit. 

 Fl. Sp. Fit. v. 1. p. 95. Wils. in Fngl. Bot. Suppl. t. 2686. H. Tunbridgense, /3, Kunze Plant Afr 

 Aust. ' 



Hab. Northern Island : ascent of the Buahine mountains, Colenso. (A native of England.) 

 Apparently a scarce plant in New Zealand, but abundant in Tasmania, Euegia, and Chili; found also in South 



