134 DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 



which the stipes was divided into several branches, each of which was terminated by 

 a fan-shaped mass of cresting. It had been produced under cultivation in England. 



NEPHRODIUM UNITUM. (Nef-ro-de-um u-ni-tum.) 



PLATE XXIII., No 1. 



This is another typical fern, found in the hot parts .of both Hemispheres, and in 

 Australia and Polynesia. It also only occurs in the volcanic districts of New Zealand. 

 It used to be abundant beside the hot stream which flowed from Rotomahana into the 

 Tarawera Lake, and I brought my plants from there only a few weeks before the 

 eruption of 1886, which must have overwhelmed the parent ones. The fern is also 

 reported from beside hot-springs at Maketu, as well as from Otumakokori and Waipihi, 

 near Taupo. It grows well in a greenhouse, some of my plants producing fronds three 

 feet high. They grow in pumice-sand mixed with a good deal of leaf mould. This fern 

 has also stout creeping rhizomes, sending up clusters of few fronds at short intervals. 

 Stipes long, brownish or yellow, smooth or only deciduously scaly at base. Rachis 

 also smooth. Frond oblong, pinnate. Pinnae in pairs, stalked, long, narrow and 

 tapering, and all pointing much upwards, cut into tooth-like lobes. The lower ones 

 have the lowest lobes cut nearly, or quite, down to the costa, so as to be partially 

 bi-pinnate. Texture coriaceous, glossy above, slightly downy below. Colour bright 

 green, inclining to dark. Sori placed in a row just within the margin, and so large 

 and numerous as to be almost confluent. Involucres small and soon disappearing. I 

 have noticed that the texture becomes softer under cultivation, more like N. molle. 

 The fern is also called " N. propinquum," " Aspidium unitum," " A. gongylodes," and 

 " Polypodium unitum." 



GENUS NEPHROLEPIS. (Nef-ro-lep-is.) 

 From " nephros " a kidney, " lepis " a scale: has simply pinnate coriaceous fronds. 

 Sori round, arising from tip of the upper branch of a vein, generally near the edge. 

 Involucres kidney-shaped or nearly round. Veins free. Pinnae articulated at base, 

 and often very deciduous in dried specimens. Fronds have white chalky-looking dots 

 on upper surface. Plants of this genus are found all round the world, within the 

 tropics, and extend a short distance north and south of them. The only New Zealand 

 species is 



NEPHROLEPIS CORDIFOLIA. (Nef-ro-lep-is cor-dif-o-le-a.) 



PLATE XX., No. 3. 



This fern is found all through Tropical Africa, from the Guinea Coast to Zambesi 

 land ; in Asia and Polynesia, from North India and Japan, southward to Australia and 

 New Zealand ; and in Central America, from Mexico and Cuba southward to Brazil 

 and Peru. In New Zealand it is only known to occur at Otumakokori and near 

 Tapuaeharuru, both in the volcanic region East of Taupo Lake. The Rev. W. 



