136 DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 



POLYPODIUM PUNCTATUM. Pol-ly-po-de-um punc-ta-tum. 



PLATE XV., No. 3. 



This plant, in one form or other, occurs in North India, eastward to Ceylon and 

 the Sandwich Islands, Japan, and thence southward, through the PhiHppines and New 

 Caledonia, to Australia, New Zealand, and Tristan d'Acunha ; in Africa, from St. 

 Helena eastward to Bourbon, and in America, from Columbia southward to Chili. It 

 occurs in two very different forms, which are classed in the Synopsis as P. punctatum, 

 and var. B. rugulosum, but it is stated that Mettenius regards them as distinct, and as 

 we have both in New Zealand, I will describe them separately. They are both pretty 

 common in the New Zealand forests, but prefer light to heavy bush, the large form 

 occurring in wetter places than " var. rugulosum," which is more commonly found on 

 hill sides, or on logs. Both are often found in the edges of bush, and even in 

 clearings. It is also called " P. rugulosum," " P. Viscidum," " Phegopterisrugulosa," 

 and " Cheilanthes ambigua." 



The larger kind, which I take to be the true P. punftatum, has rather slender, 

 dark, creeping, scaly rhizomes, from which scattered fronds arise. These are often 

 five feet high, and I am assured that, in the rich bush soil N.E. of Mount Egmont, it 

 has been met with fully seven feet high. The stipes is stout, long, erect, yellow or 

 light brown, downy and rather sticky to the touch, and often densely clothed with long 

 soft, light brown hairs. The frond is broadly triangular, tri or even quadri-pinnate, 

 and very compact. Pinnae sub-opposite or alternate. Pinnules oblong or oval, cut 

 into rounded lobes of greater or less depth, and stalked or narrowly sessile. Texture 

 herbaceous or softly-coriaceous, slightly furry above, and more so below; colour 

 varying from yellowish to brownish green. Sori numerous on underside of lobes, a 

 short distance from the edge, and often in two rows. This plant can scarcely be 

 distinguished from some forms of Hypolepis tenuifolia ; the only distinction being 

 that in the latter fern, the sori are situated at the bottoms of the indentations, and 

 have the edge of the frond bent over them, while in P. punctatum they are on the 

 lobes, and farther from the margin. 



The other fern which I regard as the true " var. rugulosum " is figured at Plate 

 XXII., No. 2. It has also a slender creeping scaly rhizome, but of a darker colour, 

 and the fronds springing from it are less scattered, and seldom, if ever, more than 

 three feet long, including the stipes, which is short, comparatively slender, dark 

 chocolate brown, covered with short down and very sticky. These latter characteristics 

 also apply to the rachis. The frond is long, narrow, flaccid, oblong or ovate- 

 lanceolate, and only bi-pinnate. Pinnae in opposite or sub-opposite pairs, far asunder, 

 and pointing or curving upward. Pinnules more or less broadly sessile, oval, and 

 deeply cut into rounded lobes. Colour always dark brownish green; texture 

 herbaceous and very velvety. Sori as in the P. punftatum, but more numerous, and 



