Fiiices.~\ 



FLORA OP NEW ZEALAND. 



49 



Tribe VII. Maeatti M .-&« dorsal. Capsules coriaceous, without a ring, more or less combined into 

 an oblong or linear lobed mass {sorus), which hirsts along its whole length. Gen. XXXII. 



Gen. XXXII. MAEATTIA, 8m. 



Sori oblongi, serie intramarginali dispositi venulis simplicibus furcatisque liberis siti. Capsule in 

 sorum bivalvem sen billamellatum coadunate; valvse intns plana,, pluriloculares, rimis transversis dehis- 

 centes. Spore mmufassima,. Indusium lineare, angustum, fimbriatum, venule longitndinaliter adnatum.- 

 Ehizoma crassum, conaceo-camosum. Frondes rhizomate articulate, stipite basi dilatato, bi-muUipmnatm ; 



pinmtlis serratis. 



A genus of tropical Ferns, also found in subtropical regions of the southern hemisphere, consisting of but few 

 species, the numbers of which have been greatly exaggerated by modern authors. The only New Zealand species is 

 found m Norfolk Island, the New Hebrides, Pacific and Malay Islands, Ceylon, Bourbon, the Cape of Good Hope 

 and South America.-i^W a rounded, hard, fleshy mass (roasted and eaten by the natives), as large as the head' 

 from which many tall fronds arise. Stipes stout, green, jointed on to the rhizome, dilated into stipules at the base' 

 Mr. Golenso says that the frond is mobile at the joints, which is not the character of cultivated specimens of 

 this or of any other species of the genus. Fronds coriaceous, dark green, deltoid, bi-tri-pinnate, 10-18 feet high 

 Pmnules sessile or shortly stipitate, jointed to the rachis, lanceolate or linear-oblong, acuminate, 3-7 inches long 

 rounded at the base, serrate. Costa stout, glabrous or slightly hairy • veins free, parallel, simple or forked Sori 

 of very curious structure, placed at the ends of the veins just within the margin; each consists of two opposite 

 parallel plates with convex backs and plane faces, the latter marked by transverse gashes opening into as many 

 cells, which contain the spores; structurally each sorus is composed of two rows of capsules laterally united into 

 a many-celled body. Spores elliptical, very minute indeed. Sorus surrounded at the base by a narrow fimbriated 

 indusmm. (Named in honour of Jean F Maratti, Abbe of Vallombreuse, who devoted his attention to Perns.) 



l.Marattia salicina, 8m. ; pinnis lineari-oblongis lanceolatisve aeuminatis serratis basi rotandatis 

 sessihbus v. breve rtipitatis.-flw** in Bees' Cyclop. Be Vriese et Earting, Monog. Maratt. p. 5. M 

 elegans, Endl. Prodr. Ft. Ins. Norf. 



Hab. Northern and eastern parts of the Northern Island, Cunningham, Mgerley, Colenso, Sinclair 

 Nat. name, " Para/' Col. (Cultivated at Kew.) 



Note. Angiopterk evecta, Hoffm.-I find a specimen of this plant in the Hookerian Herbarium stated to be a 

 native of New Zealand, but upon insufficient authority: it is named A. aurata by M. De Vriese in that author's 

 monograph of ' Marattiacea, and is probably from Ceylon, where I find specimens possessing the characters upon 

 which he founds the species aurata. L 



Tribe VIII. OpHiOGLOSSEiE.-&n in stalked spikes or panicles. Capsules sessile, without a ring, 

 globose, coriaceous, bursting transversely into two valves. Gen. XXXIII. XXXIV. 



Gen. XXXIII. OPHIOGLOSSUM, L. 



Capsules sessiles, globosse, in spicam elongatam distiche biseriatim coadunate, coriaceas, rima trans- 

 versa dehiscentes. Spore minutissimae, globoso-trigonse.— Eadix efibris camosis. Frons simplex, erect'a 

 folium solitarium (rariusZ) simplex reticulatim nervosum gerens, in spicam elongatam pedunculalamdesinens. 

 A very curious genus, found in almost, all latitudes to which Perns extend. Upwards of thirty species have 

 been made of it, many of which do not differ even as varieties from the common 0. vulgatum of Europe and 

 most of them may, I think, be referred safely to that plant. Such is the opinion which has been arrived 'at bv 

 Mr. J. Smith and myself quite independently. The genus affords one of the most striking examples of the pron J 

 ness of many botanists to make species on insufficient grounds, and of the fallacy that prevails with regard to 



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