Kirk. — Oa Hymenophyllum villosum. 395 



Art, LVII. — On Hymenopliyllum villosum, Coleyiso. By T. Kiek, F.L.S. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 12th January, 1878.] 

 This small species has long been a source of perplexity to fern collectors 

 in this colony, by the majority of whom it has been mistaken for Hyineno- 

 phijllum ciliatum, Swartz, a species of wide distribution, but only known 

 in New Zealand from specimens collected in the Nelson district by Mr. 

 Travers. H. villosum was originally discovered by Mr. Colenso in 1842, 

 and described by him in the London Journal of Botany for 1844. Sir 

 William J, Hooker, in " Species Filicum," referred it to H. 2^olyanthos, ft. 

 sangidnolentum, a view which has been adopted by Sir Joseph D. Hooker in 

 his " Flora Nov^e-Zelandise " and " Handbook of the New Zealand Flora." 

 It must, however, be regarded as a distinct species, having a wide subalpine 

 and alpine range in New Zealand, although I am not aware of its occur- 

 rence elsewhere. I am glad to say that Mr. Baker, who has kindly 

 compared my South Island specimens with those originally sent to Kew by 

 Mr. Colenso, agrees with me as to its specific validity. 



Hymenophyllum villosum. 

 Coleuso in London Journal of Botany, vol. III., p. 35 : Tasmanian Philosophical 

 Journal, vol. 11., p. 185. 



Ehizome wiry, creeping. Stipes 1-2 inches long, narrowly winged or 

 wingless, villous ; frond 2-5 inches high, 1-2 inches broad, opaque, of a dull 

 brownish- green ; broadly ovate, or ovate-acuminate, tripinnate, villous ; 

 main rachis 1-3 inches long, narrowly winged, flexuose, villous ; primary 

 and secondary pinnae deltoid ; tertiary pinnae twice or thrice divided into 

 narrow linear forked segments. Sori terminal and axillary, free, orbicular, 

 broader than the segments, 2-valved to the base ; valves entire. 



Hal). On rocks and trees in moist situations. 



North Island : Euatahuna — W. Colenso, 1842 ; summit of Tarawera 

 (amongst moss), 4,000 feet — T. K. 



South Island: Mountains of the Amuri, Nelson, 3,000-4,000 feet — 

 T. K. ; mountains above Broken Eiver, Canterbury — J. D. Enys ! ; Upper 

 Waimakariri and Arthur's Pass, 2,000-3,000 feet— J. D. Enys and T. Kirk; 

 Ashburton — T. H. Potts ! ; the Eouteburn and mountains above Lake Harris, 

 Otago, 4,000 feet— r. K. 



I have seen specimens from other parts of the South Island, but am 

 ignorant of the precise localities in which they were collected. In all 

 probability our plant is common throughout the colony at elevations above 

 the highest limit of H. pohjanthos, although but rarely occurring below. 



The fronds of our plant are more highly divided than those of any other 

 New Zealand species, and present, especially in small specimens, a peculiai- 



