234 
New Zealand Ferns 
( 91 ) A. lucidum (bright), “huruhuru-whenua.” 
Perhaps the most easily found fern in New Zealand; 
there is no overlooking the broad glossy fronds that seem 
to wave an invitation to the fern gatherer — to be stuffed 
into a kerosene tin or an old box and allowed to languish 
in a neglected corner of the verandah ! Easily recognised 
by the herring-bone pattern on the backs of the broad 
leaves. 
Description . — Root short, stout, often forming a hard rounded 
mass, clothed at the top with large brown scales. Stalks 6 to 18 
inches long, stout, densely scaly at base, sometimes dark-brown 
above and below, separated by a narrow hair-like line of green on 
either side. Fronds 12 to 36 inches long without the stalks, by 
6 to 14 inches broad, erect or drooping, dark-green, glossy and 
shining, paler beneath, texture firm, margins of the leaflets finely 
serrated. Veins usually evident. Seeds very numerous, in long 
oblique lines. 
Abundant in lowland districts throughout the Dominion. 
A strikingly handsome species; its presence in a forest 
glade adds not a little to the richness and luxuriance of 
the scene. It differs markedly from all the other native 
species except A. obtusatum, with which it is connected 
by transitional forms. It grows in almost every situation 
— on dry rocky banks exposed to the blazing sun, in the 
deep cool shade of the forest, in the upper forks of tall 
trees, about old stumps, on the ground, on the stems of 
tree-ferns. 
The growth of a young frond, though somewhat slow, 
is an interesting study. As the crook unrolls it exposes 
the side leaves, of a light vivid green, shining as if 
lacquered over with a transparent varnish. The young 
