70 
New Zealand Ferns 
( 24 ) T. liumile (lowly). A modest little fern that 
hides its head in some retired shady nook, where the 
light is screened and the air still; easily recognised by 
the hairs which proceed from the trumpet-shaped seed 
vessel on each side of the midrib. 
Description .- — Roots slender, creeping, matted. Stalks slen- 
der, fin. to fin. long, winged almost to the base. Fronds 1 to 3 
inches long by fin. to fin. broad, smooth, membranous, dark 
dull-green, pendulous. Seeds producing thread-like hairs, down 
the centre of the frond. 
From the North Cape southwards not uncommon in dark 
woods. South Island: Nelson, Marlborough, Banks Peninsula. 
Sea-level to 2,000 feet. 
I first gathered this tender little fern in the year 1880 
at the bottom of Pohe-rua crater, Bay of Islands, at that 
time so choked with bushes and small trees as to produce 
the effect of a dim twilight down below. The whole of 
the ground — rocks, stones, and earth — was carpeted a 
shadowy-green; I could not set down my foot without 
crushing the humble little fronds. 
It is also found in Java and the Pacific Islands. 
