284 
New Zealand Ferns 
covering of pale-brown scales, can be traced through 
the moss, filmy ferns, and other creeping plants, as they 
branch and climb the stem, putting out here and there a 
few graceful fronds, which become larger and more 
plentiful near the summit, and culminate in one or two 
laden with jet-black seeds. 
It is a widely distributed fern, found in temperate 
Australia, Polynesia, South Africa, Mauritius, and in 
America from Cuba to Patagonia. 
( 111) A. aristatum (awned). A wide-spread tropi- 
cal species, extending to the Ivermadec Islands, where 
it is abundant. 
Description .- — Roots long, stout, creeping, clothed with rusty 
scales. Stalks 9 to 18 inches long, stout, densely scaly towards 
the base. Fronds scattered along the root, 1 to 2 feet long by 9 to 
12 inches wide, dark-green, glossy, the tips of the leaflets like 
prickles. Seeds rather small, in two rows near the midrib. 
Kermadec Islands, Sunday Island, abundant. 
Found also in Polynesia, Australia, Malaya, India, China, 
Japan, and South Africa. 
