82 DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 



The rhizome is short, thick, creeping and scaly ; and the stipes long, black and glossy, 

 yet rough to the touch. In some localities, it is slightly hairy, particularly towards 

 the base. Rachis and costae black, rough, and shining below, but slightly downy 

 above. The frond is broadly rhomboidal, and repeatedly branched, the ultimate 

 pinnae being much prolonged. The pinnules are rather large in barren fronds, but 

 small in fertile ones, and vary in shape from rhomboidal and oblong to almost round 

 with lobed edges. Texture coriaceous : colour olive green. The sori are numerous, 

 and vary considerably in size in different fronds. They are usually on the lobes rather 

 than in indentations of the edges, and like the involucres, are often oblong rather than 

 kidney-shaped. 



I only know, with any certainty, of this fern occurring in the North Island, though 

 I have heard it said that it has been found at one place in the Nelson Provincial 

 Distrift. It is, however, met with in the neighbourhood of Kaipara, and beside the 

 Manawatu River and its tributaries, from near Woodville to below Palmerston North, 

 where it grows abundantly in the sandy alluvium by the river side. It used to occur 

 in the bush farther from the river, but is fast disappearing as the bush is cleared. It 

 is a noble fern and easily cultivated in very light sandy loam, but is not easily lifted, 

 the rhizomes being often a foot or more below the surface of the sand, which has 

 been deposited above them by floods. I have noticed that the deeper they 

 are buried, the finer fronds they produce ; but it would be useless to plant them 

 deep, unless in very light sand, such as that in which they naturally grow, as the 

 fronds would not be able to force their way up. The fern is also found in the southern 

 parts of Australia. Baron Von Mueller, of Melbourne, regards this and the two 

 preceding ferns as merely forms of one plant, though they differ so much in size and 

 division. 



ADIANTUM HISPIDULUM. A-de-an-tum his-pid-u-lum.) 



PLATE XIII., No. 1. 

 This fern has a stout, slowly-creeping, scaly rhizome, sending up numerous fronds. 

 The stipes is long, stout, and ereft, of a dark brown colour, and thickly covered, when 

 young, with short white hairs, which fall off afterwards. At the top of the stipes the 

 plant usually forks into two unequal halves, each of which divides and divides again 

 till it assumes a fan-shaped outline. The branches are long, narrow, tapering, and 

 alternately pinnate. The pinnules are oblong or slightly tapering, with the lower and 

 outer edges somewhat rounded and indented or toothed. Sori and involucres small 

 and numerous, and placed in the indentations of the upper and outer edges. Texture 

 coriaceous, and rough to the touch. Colour olive green. It is also called " Adiantum 

 pedatum " and " Adiantum pubescens." This fern is found throughout Central 

 Africa, in Southern India, Mauritius, Pacific Islands, Australia, and the Chatham 

 Islands. It occurs in tolerable abundance from about Auckland northward, and is 



