30 



FLORA OE NEW ZEALAND. 



[Filices 



subsinuato-crenatis, infimis rotundatis nunc discretis, rachi costaque glaberrima, fronde fertili sterilibus 

 breviore, pinnis patentibus linearibus acutis v. acuminatis, stipite basi squamato subcrinito.— Spr. Syst. 

 Veg. Hook. Io. Plant, t. 429. A. Cunn. Prodr. L. obtusata, Lab. Serf. Nov. Caled. t. 6. Stegania, 

 Br. Prodr. A. Rich. Flor. Endl. Prodr. Flor. Ins. Norf. 



Hab. Throughout the Islands ; abundant. (Cultivated at Kew.) 



A common Tasmanian plant, also found in Australia, and as far south as Lord Auckland's Group ; an 

 apparently identical species occurs in the Society Islands, and in tropical and extra-tropical South America.— 

 Fronds tufted, on a very short, erect caudex, 2 inches to 2 feet high, firm in texture, but not coriaceous, pale green, 

 paler below ; barren ones quite glabrous, long, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, much narrowed below, often produced 

 to the base of the short stipes, pinnate below, pinnatifid above. Pinna very numerous and close, narrow or 

 broadly oblong-lanceolate, f-2 inches long, blunt or sharp, quite entire or bluntly toothed towards the tip, trans- 

 versely ribbed by the forked veins. Fertile fronds shorter ; pumas distant, spreading, narrow linear, acute or acu- 

 minate. Rachis and casta; quite smooth and glabrous. Stipes with long subulate blackish scales at the base.-- 

 Norfolk Island specimens are very much larger than New Zealand ones, and have almost filiform fertile pinnae, with 

 subulate tips. The L. nigra is possibly a state of this species, which it resembles in the acute tips to the fertde 

 phrase. 



7. Lomaria discolor, Willd.j frondibus ceespitosis, fertilibus glaberrimis subcoriaceis subtus discolori- 

 bus rufo-brunneis (rarius concoloribus) pinnatifidis (basi sscpius pinnatis) elongato-lanceolatis^ acutis basi 

 angustatis, pinnis plurimis (subpectinatis) divaricatis approximatis simi angusto acuto lineari-lanceolatis 

 obtusis acutis acuminatisve infimis brevibus integerrimis v. obscure sinuatis, costa rachique glaberrimis, 

 fronde fertili plerumque pinnatifida pinnis obtusis basi dilatatis nudis inferioribus sterilibus rarius pinnata 

 pinnis basi substipitatis, costa valida atra, stipite brevi basi paleaceo.— Wittd. Bp. PL A. Cunn. Prodr. 

 Stegania discolor, A. Rich. Flor. Hemionitis discolor, ScU. Fit. 1. 6 {sub nom. H. rufa). Onoclea nuda, 

 lab. Fl. Nov. Roll. v. 2. p. 96. t. 246. Stegania falcata, Br. Prodr. 

 Hab. Throughout the Islands ; abundant. (Cultivated at Kew.) 



It is generally easy to distinguish this from L. lanceolata by the red colour of the under surface of the frond, 

 but this is not always the case either in New Zealand or in Australian and Tasmanian specimens. Labillardicrc hence 

 made a new species of the Tasmanian, which has been retained by Mr. Brown; but I find specimens from that 

 island to be as red below as those from New Zealand, and there is no other character whereby to separate them.— 

 Fronds tufted on the top of a very short, woolly, erect, thick caudex, forming an elegant crown ; 1-3 feet long, 

 narrow linear-lanceolate, perfectly glabrous, rather coriaceous, pinnatifid. Pinna very numerous, close, and placed 

 at right angles to the rachis, with a narrow slit between the contiguous pairs, straight, linear-oblong or lanceolate, 

 blunt, sharp or acuminate, lfr-4 inches long, obscurely serrate or quite entire; lowest smaller, sometimes distant. 

 Fertile fronds pinnate or pinnatifid; pinna; spreading, stout, linear, dilated, adnate, and leafy or contracted, and 

 almost stipitate at the base ; lower pinna? often quite barren, and like those of the barren frond. Costa and rachis 

 quite smooth, the latter very stout, often black, deeply channelled in front. Stipes short, stout, scaly at the base. 



8. Lomaria alpha, Spr. ; glaberrima, fronde sterili stipitata anguste lineari profunde pinnatifida v. 

 pinnata, pinnis approximatis basi lata sessilibus oblongis obtusis coriaceis inferioribus minonbus coriaceis, 

 costa tend, rachi valida, fronde fertili elongata sterilibus longiore pinnata, pinnis lineari-oblongis obtusis 

 divaricatis curvis, infimis parvis remotis sterilibus, stipite valido nudo v. sparse squamato, rmzomate csespi- 

 toso repente squainoso.-^r. Syst. Veg. Flor. Ardarct. p. 392. t. 150. L. polypodioides, Gaud, m 

 Freyc. Toy. Bol. L. Antarctica, Carm. Fl. Ins. 'Prist. d'Acunha. L. linearis, Colenso m Tasm. Phi, 

 Journ. v. 2. p. 176. Stegania alpina, Br. Prodr. 



Hab. Mountainous parts of the Northern, and throughout the Middle and Southern Islands ; abun- 

 dant. (Cultivated at Kew.) 



