Jas FLORA OF TASMANIA. [Pilices. 
another is the 4. excelsa of Norfolk Island, which is the loftiest of Tree-Ferns, and said to attain 80 feet; and the 
third is a native of New Zealand. The genus is distinguished from Polypodium by the arborescent habit and ele- 
vated receptacle of the sorus, which has no involucre, and often bears long jointed hairs amongst the capsules, 
(Name from adoos, a grove, and pio, to love.) 
l. Alsophila Australis (Br. Prodr. 158); glabra, fronde bipinnata, pinnulis lineari-lanceolatis 
attenuato-acuminatis pinnatifidis subtus glaucis, segmentis oblique ovatis acutis integerrimis v. subserratis, 
soris 1-6.— Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 50. £. 19 A. (Gunn, 1507.) 
Has. Not rare; in shady forests: Macquarrie Harbour, Backhouse; Asbestos Hills and Georgetown, 
Gunn. 
Disrris. New South Wales and Tasmania. 
A very handsome Tree-Fern, attaining a height of 30 feet, conspieuously differing from Dieksonia Antarctica 
in the black trunk being covered with the persistent bases of the fallen fronds.—Fronds 12-14 feet long, bipinnate, 
somewhat glaucous beneath. 
Gen. III. DICKSONIA, P Zérit. 
Sori marginales, globosi. Receptaculum prominulum. /nvolucrum bivalve; verum e apice venuls 
ortum, extus liberum; spurium e lobulo pinnulee reflexo, alterum equitans. Vene simplices v. furcatae.— 
Caudex sepius arborescens. 
A large genus of Ferns; many, like the Tasmanian D. Antarctica, are arborescent.—Sori on the margins of 
the pinnules. Capsules on an elevated receptacle, enclosed in a two-valved involucre. Inner valve, or true invo- 
luere, coriaceous, but less so than the outer, arising from the end of a vein; outer, the recurved segment or tooth 
of the pinnule, opposite the inner. (Named in honour of Mr. James Dickson, a Scotch botanist.) 
l. Dicksonia Antarctica (Lab. Nov. Holl. ii. p. 100. t. 249) ; arborea, stipite rachique levi, par- 
tialibus costisque molliter patentim pilosis demum glabratis, fronde coriacea bipinnata, pinnis lineari-elon- 
gatis longe acuminatis, pinnulis sessilibus profunde pinnatifidis linearibus acutis, segmentis brevibus pun- 
gentibus grosse argute serratis, soris quovis lobulo sub-4, involucri valvis eequalibus.— Br. Prodr. 157 ; 
Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 66; FI. N. Zeal. i. 9. D. fibrosa, Colenso, in Tasm. Journ. ; Hook. Sp. Fil. i. p. 68. 
t. 23 B. (Gunn, 1508, 1509.) 
Has. Abundant in damp, especially subalpine forests.— (v. v.) 
Disrgrs. New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand. (Cultivated in England.) 
This beautiful Tree-Fern has the trunk 30-50 feet high, covered with matted rootlets, which increase its bulk 
considerably, causing it to attain a diameter of 4 feet.—Sfipes smooth, pale, glabrous; partial rachis and midribs 
on both surfaces more or less clothed with soft spreading hairs, which are very deciduous. Fronds 6-12 feet long, 
lanceolate, narrowed downwards, bipinnate. Pinne 10 inches long, 1} inch broad, narrowed into long tips. Pin- 
nules sessile, $—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. Sori about four on each segment; valves of the 
involucre hemispherical, equal. 
2. Dicksonia dubia (Gaud. in Freyc. Voy. Bot. 367); rhizomate repente, froude tripinnata, pinnis 
coriaceis lanceolatis profunde pinnatifidis, segmentis inciso-serratis inferioribus bipinnatifidis, subtus pilosis 
glabratisve, soris globosis, involucri valvula superiore e margine inflexo lobuli, inferiore parva membranacea 
lacera.— Hook. Sp. Fil. i. p. 11. t. 24 C. Davallia dubia, Br. Prodr. 157. Balantium Brownianum, Pres, 
Pterid. 134. t.5.f. 4. (Gunn, 11.) 
Has. Tasmania, Brown, Gunn (no habitat). 
