78 I. — FiLiCES. \Aspidavm 



Genus XX.— ASPIDIUM,* Swwrtz. (PI. III. fig. 3.) 



Rhizome slender or stout and creeping, or forming a short, thick, 

 •erect or inclined trunk. Fronds 2- or 3-pinnate. Sori globose, 

 dorsal or terminal on the veinlets. Involucre orbicular, covering the 

 sorus when young, flat or convex, fixed by the centre. 



(All the New Zealand species belong to the sub-genus Polystichtvm, 

 characterized by their rather coriaceous texture, their usually awned 

 iieeth, and free venation.) 



Rhizome erect or ascending. 



Fronds 1-3 ft. long, narrow stipes and 

 rachis, with large brown scales mixed 

 with hairs. Involucre orbicular, flat 1. A, aculeatum. 



Fronds 8-24 iu. long, ovate, rigid. Stipes 

 and rachis with narrow black scales. 

 Involucre with small dark disk ... 2. A. richardi. 



Fronds 10-20 in. long, ovate-oblong, rigid. 

 Stipes with large, brown, white-edged 

 scales. Involucre with large black 

 disk 3. A. oculatum. 



Fronds 4-10 in. long, rather flaccid. Stipes 

 and rachis with large, pale, membran- 

 ous scales. Involucre large, much 

 inflated and sub-globose 4. A. cystostegia. 



Rhizome creeping. 



Fronds 1-3 ft. long, subdeltoid, very cori- 

 aceous. Stipes with few deciduous 

 scales. Involucre large 5. A. capense. 



1. A. aculeatum, Swartz; vwr. vestitum, Hook. 



Rhizome stout, woody, erect or ascending, sometimes rising to a 

 short trunk 2-4 ft. high. Stipes 6-12 in. long, clothed with large, 

 brown, pale-margined, membranous scales, which are ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate or lacerate, and ^-1 in. long ; these are continued to a 

 greater or less degree up the rachis, and mixed with brown, woolly, 

 hairs. Fronds tufted, 1-3 ft. long, linear or ovate-lanceolate, and 

 narrowed below ; pinnae very numerous, close, nearly horizontal, 2-6 

 in. long, ^-f in. broad, linear-lanceolate ; pinnules numerous, ovate- 

 rhomboidal, pungent, sharply toothed or pinnatifid, auricled on the 

 upper side at the base. Sori very numerous, rather nearer the 

 midrib than the edge ; involucre flat, orbicular. 



Synonyms. — A. pulcherrimum and A. waikarense, Golenso ; A. 

 venustum, Romhr. and Jacq. ; A. proliferum, R. Br. ; Polystichum 



* Gr. Aspidos, a buckler or shield, from the shape of the involucre. 



