DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. ^°7 



growing among moss or other low vegetation, and they have intended to be fertile but 

 failed in the attempt. The fronds, and particularly the lower lobes have assumed the 

 fertile form, but have not developed their sori, while the upper ones still retain their 

 barren shape. It is not at all unusual for fronds of L. Alpina to be partly barren and 

 partly fertile, though in such cases the fertile lobes are usually in the upper part, and 

 the barren ones in the lower part of the frond. I cannot at all understand Mr. 

 Colenso's not seeing at once what the fronds were, unless he has not had much 

 experience of L. Alpina. 



Another group is distinguished by having the lower and middle pinnae of the 

 barren frond narrowed at the base, and distinctly separated from each other. The 

 following belong to it : 



LOMARIA PROCERA. (Lo-ma-re-a pro-cer-a.) 



MAORI NAME " KOROKIO." 

 PLATE II., Nos. 1 and la. 

 This is certainly the most common of the Lomarias in New Zealand, if it is not 

 the most common fern of any description in the Colony. It makes its appearance 

 wherever there is a little shade, even though there be but little moisture. It is used by 

 the Maoris to cover the food in their " hangis," or cooking-pits. Its forms are so 

 numerous and variable as to make it almost impossible to describe it satisfactorily. 

 The rhizome is short, thick, hard, scaly, sometimes ereft, and sometimes sub-prostrate. 

 Stipes usually erect, stiff, scaly at base, and varying in colour from yellow to black. 

 Rachis the same. Fronds pinnate, varying in length from a few inches to ten feet ; 

 and in form from lanceolate to oblong. The largest fronds are generally found 

 hanging on the faces of wet cliffs in shady places. Pinnae varying in numbers from 

 three pairs to more than twenty, and in shape (the barren ones) from narrowly 

 lanceolate to oblong. They are sometimes acutely pointed and sometimes rounded at 

 the ends. Sometimes they are broadly auricled at the base, the auricles more or less 

 surrounding the rachis. The lower ones are always stalked, and the upper ones 

 sessile. The texture is coriaceous; colour varying from dull olive to bright green in 

 full grown pinnae, though young ones are often yellow or reddish brown. The edges 

 are sometimes entire and flat, sometimes finely toothed, and sometimes very wavy. 

 The fertile pinnae are narrow, but vary in different plants from one sixteenth of an inch 

 to more than a quarter of an inch broad. It often happens that the lower part of a 

 frond is barren and the upper fertile, though generally the barren and fertile fronds are 

 distinft. Occasionally one side of the frond is barren, and the other fertile. In the 

 same way the fertile pinnae sometimes have a leafy base, though generally they have 

 not. Sir J. D. Hooker defines the following as varieties : — 



