Filices.~\ 



FLORA OP NEW ZEALAND. 



41 



An extensive genus, principally of temperate and tropical Ferns, which may be readily characterized by having 

 round naked sori, placed on the middle of forked free veinlets. Goniopteris differs from it in having the lower 

 vemlets united. One of the New Zealand species (P. rugulosum) appears to me to pass into Hypolepis tenuifolia, the 

 son sometimes approaching the margin of the lobes, and the latter becoming more or less recurved. The second 

 species is very closely related to PolysticMm vestitum, and removed from the neighbourhood of that species solely 

 on account of the artificial character of wanting an involucre. The third species differs totally in habit and ap- 

 pearance from either of the above. (Name from ™a w , many, and ™*, afoot; in allusion to the habit of some 

 Fern to which the name was applied by the ancients.) 



1. Polypodium rugulosum, Lab. ■ rhizomate repente, fronde viscido-puberula v. glandulosa bi-quadri- 

 pmnata ovato- v. deltoideo-lanceolata, pinnis lanceolatis acmninatis submembranaceis coriaceisve, pinnulis 

 Imean-oblongis obtusis profande pinnatifldis, lobis obtusis crenatis, stipite rachique castaneis (rarius paUidis) 

 scaberulis hispidulis asperisve.— lab. Fl. Nov. Roll. v. 2. p. 92. t. 241. Br. Prod,: P. viscidum, Spreng. 

 Syst. Teg. v. 4. p. 61. Flor. Antarct. p. 110. P. villoso-viscidum, Petit-Thouars, Fl. Frist. d'Acun. P 

 viscosum, Roxl. in Pritchard, Catalogue of St. Helena Plants. P. viscidum, Colenso in Tasm. PAH Joum 

 Cheilanthes ambigua, A. Rich. Flor. ? C. viscosa, Carm. Fl. Trist. d'Acun., in Linn. Soc. Trans, v. 12. p. 511." 



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



_ Whole plant more or less covered with rufous glandular pubescence ; a span to 3 feet high. Frond bi-tri-quadri- 

 pmnate broadly deltoid or ovate-lanceolate, more or less membranous, rarely coriaceous. Puma, very variable in 

 length, lanceolate, acuminate. Pinnules adnate by a broad base, linear-oblong, blunt, deeply pinnatifid; lobes entire 

 or crenate, blunt. Sori on the middle of a veinlet. Stipes and raclds generally dark brown, slender, scabrid, some- 

 times muncated, often hispid with scattered hairs, rarely glabrous. Rhizome rigid, woody, creeping, scaly and 

 hispid, sending up distant fronds.-I have found it quite impossible to give any characters to the numerous varieties 

 of this very common plant : besides being found throughout New Zealand, it inhabits Norfolk Island Tasmania 

 and Australia, Auckland and Campbell's Islands, Chili and Fuegia, Juan Fernandez, St. Helena and Tristan 

 d'Acunha. A very similar (if not the same) plant inhabits the West Indies, Java, and the British East Indies. 



2 Polypodium sylvalicum, Col. ; frondibus coriaeeis bipinnatis oblongo- v. elongato-lanceolatis, pinnis 

 mean-lanceolate, pmnulis linear!- v. ovato-oblong ls breve stipitatis basi cuneatis grosse pinnatifido-lobatis 

 lobuhs argute spmuloso-dentatis, costis uervisque laxe villosis, rachibus stipiteque molliter villosis lana- 

 tisve paleisque latis deciduis castaneis pallide marginatis onustis.— Colenso in Tasm. Phil. Joum (Tab 

 LXXXI.) K 



t, , S A f' AT ° rtllem Island ^ mountainous woods, east coast and interior: Tolaga Bay, etc., Colenso. 

 Port Nicholson, Lyall. 



This approaches so closely to Polysticlmm vestitum, that the absence of any involucre is the only striking tech- 

 nical character whereby it can be distinguished. The nature of the more or less copious, villous, soft, pale-brown 

 hairs on the stipes, rachis, costa, and nerves, and of the large deciduous pales, is precisely the same in both; and 

 they further entirely agree in the growth, form, division, and lobing of the frond, its coriaceous texture, colour, and 

 in the position of the sori ; in Polypodium sylvaticum, however, the pinnules are more stipitate, longer and narrower 

 In some small mountain specimens the villous hairs are very few, and the paleas of a very pale colour, and membra- 

 nous.— Plate LXXXI. Fig. 1, 2, pinnules; 3, portion of pinnules, showing the position of the sori; 4, capsules- 

 5, spores : — all magnified. ' ' 



3. Polypodium Grammitidis, Br. ; fronde glaberrima lineari v. lineari-oblonga profunde decursivo- 

 pinnatifida, pinnis linearibus integris lobato-dentatis v. rarius pinnatifidis, lobis interdum elongatis cau- 

 datisve, soris globosis oblongisve.— Br. Prodr. A. Cunn. Prodr. Fl, Antarct. p. 111. Grammitis hetero 

 phylla, Lab. Flor. Nov. Soil. v. 2. p. 90. t. 239. Xiphopteris heterophylla, Spreng. Syst. Yea 



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