71 



Presl, Tentam. Pteridolog. 83 ; J. Hook. Flor. Not, Zeel. ii. 38 ; Flor. 



Tasm. ii. 148 ; P. aristatum, J. Hook. Flor. Nov. Zeel. ii. 37. 

 Common in woods and on the borders of water-courses of Chat- 

 ham-Island ; extending in Continental Australia from Mount Gambler 

 to New South Wales, abounding in the moister forest-regions, 

 ascending to the highest alpine elevations, and forming in some of 

 our highlands, for instance on the Baw Baw Range, with Lomaria 

 Capensis, the predominant part of the lower vegetation. (Conf. F. M. 

 Eeport for 1860, p. 14) 



When, especially in colder forest-glens or along shady rivulets, 

 this fern occurs in a luxuriant state with fronds 4-6' long, its circular 

 tufts then assume a truly grand appearance. The chaff-like scales 

 are pale-brown in the Chatham-plant and the pinnules bluntly 

 crenate. The scales of the stipites of this species attain in richly 

 developed plants fully the length of 1", and impart when shining 

 black and brown margined to this fern great additional beauty. 

 The indu.sium readily secedes and seems occasionally to be wanting; 

 Diminutive varieties have been detected on the Ashburton-glacier 

 and in others of the permanently snowy regions of New Zealand by 

 Dr. Haast. 



Lomaria discolor. 

 Willd. in Magaz. der Naturf. Freunde zu Berlin, 1809, 160 ; Spec. Plant, v. 



293 ; J. Hook. Flor. Nov. Zeel. ii. 30; Flor. Tasm. ii. 143 ; Hook. Spec. 



FUic. iii. 5 ; L. nuda, WUld. Spec. Plant, v. 289 ; L. falcata, Spreng. Syst. 



Veg. iv. 62 ; L. lanceolata, J. Hook. Flor. Antarctic, i. 110 ; Osmunda 



discolor, Forst. Prodr. 413 ; Onoclea discolor, Swartz, Syn. Fil. Ill ; O. 



nuda, LabUl. Nov. HoU. Plant. Specim. ii. 96, t. 246 ; Hemionitis discolor, 



Sclik.Farrnkr. 7, t. 6 ; Stegania nuda, E. Br. Prodr. 153 (1810) ; S. falcata, 



E. Br. 1. c. ; S. discolor, Ach. Eich. Voy. de I'Astrol. ii. 87 ; S. procera, 



A. Eich. 1. c. t. 13, the barren frond. 



In woods of Chatham-Island common. In Continental Australia 

 from St. Vincent's Gulf extending to New South Wales. 



This and L. Capensis are the only ferns hitherto in the Australian 

 Continent found west^ward of Mount Gambler. " 



Fronds arranged in circles; the fertile segments often broad, 

 stout and blunt. 



The fronds are larger and firmer and less saturated green than 

 those of L. lanceolata, which corresponds in color and texture of its 

 foliage to L. fluviatilis ; the segments moreover are neither distinctly 

 crenulated, nor the inferior ones so singularly abbreviated. 



The segments of the fronds are not rarely along their upper part 

 fruit-bearing and in the lower portion barren. 



