260 
New Zealand Ferns 
( 102 ) A. flaccidum (limp). “Pohutu-kawa.” When 
seen hanging from the forest trees, 3 feet long, the leaf- 
lets narrow and thick, as if cut from a piece of pale- 
green leather, it is an odd-looking plant, quite unlike any 
other New Zealand fern. 
Description . — Root short, stout, erect, clothed at the top with 
dark-brown scales. Stalks usually rather short, greenish, scaly at 
the base. Fronds tufted, very variable in size and shape, 3 inches 
to 3 feet long or more by 2 to 9 inches broad, thick and leathery, 
flaccid and pendulous, or rigid and erect, green to pale-green, 
quite smooth. Seeds oblong, usually on the margins of the leaflets. 
Abundant throughout the Dominion. Sea-level to 3,500 feet. 
A most ubiquitous species, growing in all sorts of odd 
corners, most usually on trees and rocks, varying so 
much in size and appearance that division into groups 
would facilitate classification. It is putting a severe 
strain on the faith of a student to be asked to believe 
that a great pendulous frond hanging 3 feet from the 
trunk of a tree is the same species as a stiff, upright, 
almost spiky little plant a few inches high. Dr. Hooker 
enumerated five varieties in his Handbook; only one — 
Shuttleworthiamim — has been retained by Mr. Cheese- 
man. 
The illustrations show what very divergent forms are 
classed under A. flaccidum. It is easy of cultivation, 
being one of those which grew spontaneously in my 
garden. A wide-spread plant, occurring in Australia, 
Tasmania, and the Pacific Islands. 
