170 
New Zealand Ferns 
(64) P. comans (hairy). A large, handsome fern, 
with broad, irregular leaves. A northern species, plen- 
tiful on some of the outlying islands, rare and local on 
the mainland; at once distinguished from other species 
of the genus by the copiously netted veins. 
Description . — Root short, stout. Stalks 1 to 2 feet long or 
more, erect, yellow-brown, polished, clothed at the base with 
dark-brown scales. Fronds 1 to 4 feet long by 6 inches to 3 feet 
broad, membranous, dark-green, quite smooth. Veins copiously 
netted. Seeds in a continuous line round the margins of the leaf- 
lets, except the tips. 
Kermadec Islands, most abundant. North Island: From Three 
Kings Islands and North Cape to the Bay of Plenty, usually in 
shaded places near the sea; plentiful in the outlying islands; rare 
and local on the mainland. 
Mr. Cheeseman says it is often confounded by fern 
collectors with large states of P. macilenta, Var. pen- 
dula, but it is an altogether different plant, with a coarser 
and stouter habit of growth, much broader and less- 
divided fronds, and unusually long and narrow leaflets. 
I must confess to having always confounded it with P. 
macilenta. I did not realise my error until shown a speci- 
men of the true P. comans. It is a very different and a 
much more tropical-looking fern. Found also in Aus- 
tralia, Tasmania, and the Pacific Islands. 
