122 DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 



piece of frond on which they grow is laid on the ground, and its edges covered with 

 earth, the young plants will send down roots and grow independently. They always 

 have a small scale, like a prothallus, at their base, and yet it is certain that they do 

 not grow from spores that have fallen on the frond, but spring out of the substance of 

 the frond itself. In the Southern portion of the Middle Island, however, these 

 growths seem almost unknown. 



VAR. LAXUM (lax-um), 

 Is usually a smaller plant, with narrower fronds (seldom exceeding two feet in 

 height), and divided into longer, narrower lobes, so that the sori become sub-marginal. 

 It is more drooping in its habit than the ordinary form and approximates to A. 

 Hookerianum, var. Colensoi. 



VAR. TRIPINNATUM OR FABIANUM (tri-pin-na-tum), 



PLATE XXIII, No. 6, 



Is, as its name implies, tripianate, and has also long narrow lobes with sori so 

 nearly marginal, that some persons regard it as rather a form of A. flaccidum. I have, 

 however, always regarded it as unquestionably a form of A. bulbiferum on account of 

 its producing young plants on its upper surface, but as a similarly proliferous form of 

 unquestionable A. flaccidum has lately been found at' Waitotara, I am now more 

 disposed to regard it as a transitional type. 



There is another tripinnate form that seems not to have been distinflly recognised 

 and separately classed, though it occurs in both islands. It has numerous distinft 

 small stalked pinnules, and bears a strong resemblance to coarse Asplenium 

 Hookerianum. It seems, indeed, a transitional form. 



VAR. SHUTTLEWORTHIANUM (Shut-tle-worth-e-a-num), 

 Is included by Mr. Thompson, but I think erroneously; for though it occurs at the 

 Kermadec Islands, it has not, as far as I know, been found in New Zealand. It is a 

 plant about eighteen inches long, which grows pendulous on tree trunks, and is a form 

 of A. flaccidum rather than of A. Bulbiferum, and is doubtfully classed in the 

 Synopsis. It is quadri-pinnatifid, and altogether very narrow in its foliage, the 

 ultimate segments being very small and wedge-shaped, with marginal sori. It is such 

 a lovely plant, that I should be only too glad to find that it occurred in New Zealand. 



SUB-GENUS DAREA (Da-re-a), 



Has the veins simple, the ultimate divisions narrow and linear ; sori marginal or 

 sub-marginal, linear or linear-oblong. 



A group of this sub-genus is called the Cicutarium group, from the thick fleshy 

 charafter of the foliage of the plants included in it. The New Zealand ones are 



