362 
I. FILICES. 
[Ilypolepis. 
Rhizome slender, creeping, not scaly. Frond 8-16 in. long, glabrate, 
broadly ovate or deltoid, 3-pinnate ; stipes and rachis sparingly glandular and 
pilose, pale; primary branches few, ovate or lanceolate, secondary f in. long, 
shortly stipitate, linear-oblong, obtuse, tertiary also stipitate and similar, pin- 
natifid or tabulate, the segments crenate. Sori solitary on the lobes or cre- 
natures of the piunules. 
Northern Island : shady places, top of the Ruahine mountains, Colenso. Middle 
Island: Nelson, Lake Rotuiti, Munro ; Southern Alps, Sinclair and Haast ; Otago, Lind- 
say. This approaches very closely some forms of Polypodium, rugulosum. 
3. H. distans, Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 70. 1. 95 C FI. N. Z. ii. 23. 
Rhizome rigid, dark-brown, scabrid and aculeate, woolly and covered with 
scaly brown hairs. Frond 6-12 in. long, rigid, sparingly branched, 2-pin- 
nate, linear-ovate, acuminate ; stipes 8-12 in. high, slender, and rachis red- 
brown and rough with scattered small prickles ; primary branches distant, 
opposite, narrow linear-lanceolate ; pinnules numerous, shortly stipitate, rather 
distant, linear-oblong, obtuse, ^ in. long, glabrous, crenate lobed or pinna- 
tifid. Sori minute. 
Northern Island: near Cape Maria Van Diemen, Edyerley ; Hokianga, Hutt Valley, 
and Tararua, Colenso ; Manakau Heads {Mrs. Jones). Middle Island : Canterbury, Tra- 
vers ; Otago, Hector and Buchanan. 
13. CHEILANTHES, Swartz. 
Rhizome in the New Zealand species stout, short, scaly. — Fronds tufted, 
rigid, erect, 2- or 3-pinnate. Veins forked free. Sori small, rounded, nu- 
merous and close together, near the margins of the frond, terminating veins. 
Involucres formed of the continuously indexed margin of the frond. 
A considerable tropical and southern genus, chiefly distinguished from Hypolepis by the 
margin of the frond being continuously inflexed, and forming one long involucre over many 
sori. The only New Zealand species most closely resembles Nothochlana distans, but is 
readily distinguished by its being glabrous. 
1. C. tenuifolia, Swartz ; — FI. N. Z. ii. 23. — Var. Sieberi. — Rhi- 
zome 1-2 in. long, very stout, covered with long silky scales and old stipites 
of fronds. Fronds tufted, erect, linear-ovate or -oblong or deltoid, quite 
glabrous, coriaceous, contracted ; stipes erect, 2-8 in. high, and rachis stout, 
brown, smooth, and shining or slightly hairy below ; primary branches dis- 
tant, erect ; pinnules small, scattered, ovate- or linear-oblong, lobed or pinna- 
tifid, lobes obtuse or obtusely crenate, all soriferous. Sori sometimes so 
close as to be almost continuous and cover the back of the pinnules. — Hook. 
Sp. Fil. ii. 82 ; C. Sieberi, Kunze; Pterh humilis, Forst. 
Abundant throughout the Northern and Middle Islands, in stony and rocky places, 
Banks and Solander, etc. A large state of this is a common and widely-dispersed fern in 
the south hemisphere. The var. Sieberi is common in Australia. 
14. PELLiEA, Link. 
Rhizome usually creeping. — Fronds rather tufted, pinnate in the New 
Zealand species, pedate and 2- or 3-pinnate in others. Veins pinnate, forked, 
free, very obscure. Sori continuous round the edges of the pinnules. Involucre 
