296 
New Zealand Ferns 
( 117 ) N. hispidum (hairy). The most plentiful of 
the genus in New Zealand. Easily recognised by the ex- 
cessive hairiness of the stalks and midribs, the finely- 
divided frond, and the thin, dry texture of the leaves. 
Description . — Root long, stout, creeping, densely clothed with 
red-brown scales. Stalks 9 to 18 inches long, stout, erect, brown, 
everywhere bristly with long brown hairs. Fronds 9 to 18 inches 
long or more, without the stalks, by 6 to 12 inches broad, thin 
and firm in texture, green, yellow-green, sometimes tinged with 
brown. Midribs bristly, like the stalks. Seeds copious, large. 
Abundant throughout the Dominion. Sea-level to 2,000 feet. 
This species is so plentiful in lowland bush that it 
often covers the ground far and wide with a mat of 
feathery fronds; specimens for the herbarium may be 
gathered by the hundred, so flat and dry that little press- 
ing is necessary. I have encountered it festooning the 
stem of a tree-fern with handsome fronds over 2 feet 
long, the under side heavy with an abundant crop of 
seed. 
It is easily cultivated, sending up its perfect fronds 
with the same regularity in the fernery as it does in the 
forest. The colours of the young fronds are distractingly 
lovely, several shades appearing on the plants simulta- 
neously — light shiny green, pale golden-brown with 
emerald tips, bronze-green shaded off into lighter hues 
at the margins. 
Found also in Victoria, where it is rare and local. 
