370 
I. FILICES. 
[Lomaria. 
2. D. media, JBr. Rhizome short, stout, ascending. Fronds tufted, 
6-12 in. high, suberect, lanceolate, rather rigid, pinnatifid above, pinnate below ; 
stipes black, 3-5 in. long, with subulate scales at its base, sometimes scabrid ; 
rachis smooth, naked ; pinnules close together, spreading, linear-oblong, obtuse, 
upper decurrent at the base, lower auricled, uppermost generally elongate and 
subcordate, all rigid, spinulose or toothed. Sori in one series. — Hook. Sp. 
Fil. iii. 71 ; D. Kunthiana, Gaudichaud in Freycinet’s Yoy. t. 14. 
Northern Island : on clay hills, etc., common. Very common in Australia, Norfolk Is- 
land, and some of the Pacific Islands. 
3. D. caudata, Br. ; — FI. N. Z. ii. 37, excl. synonyms. Very closely 
allied to D. media , and probably a variety of it, but more flaccid, the fronds 
often prostrate, pinnate nearly to the top, fertile more distinct from the 
barren and longer. — Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 75 ; Exot. Flora, t. 25. 
Northern Island: common, A. Cunningham , etc. The fragrant fern which occurs in 
the Wellington Valley appears to he a variety of this. A common Australian and Tasmanian 
fern. 
18. ASPLENIUM, Linn. 
Fronds tufted on a usually very short rhizome, or with no rhizome, usually 
green, coriaceous, flaccid, pinnate 2- or 3-pinnate or decompound (never 
entire in New Zealand) ; venation various. Sori linear or oblong, parallel to 
and upon the veins, oblique with regard to the costa, distant from the margin, 
except when the frond is decompound. Involucre membranous, of the same 
form as the sorus, attached laterally to a vein, opening towards the costa. 
One of the largest and the most difficult genera of ferns, because the fronds of many of 
the species vary extremely from simple to decompound, and from almost membranous to 
coriaceous, etc. None of the New Zealand species have quite simple fronds, nor have any 
the double involucre of the Riplazium section. Of the species here described, numbers 
4, 5, and 12 are quite distinct from one another and from all the others ; 6 and 7 pass 
into one another, but not into others; 1, 2, and 3 pass into one another and into 8, 9, 10, 
and 11, which together form a network of varieties, of which the characters given are those 
of prevalent forms only ; thus there are only 5 universally separable forms in the Island. 
A. Euasplenium. Veins free. Involucre flat. 
a. Eronds pinnate, sometimes 2-pinnate below in 3. Sori several on each piuuule, not 
close to the margin (see A. Hookerianum, in 0). 
1. Rhizome stout or 0. 
Erond 3 in.-3 ft., stout. Pinnules oblong, crenate or serrate. Sori 
oblong or linear 1. A. obtusatum. 
Frond 1-2 ft., very stout. Pinnules narrow-lanceolate, very cori- 
aceous, serrate or pinnatifid. Sori short 2. A. scleroprium. 
Frond 1-2 ft., stout. Pinnules oblong-lanceolate, serrate. Sori 
linear, very long 3 .A. lucidum. 
Frond 2-1 2 in., slender, ereet. Pinnules j in., shortly oblong or 
obovate. Veins distant. Sori in 2 series 4. A. Trichomanes. 
Frond 2-18 in., slender, prostrate, rooting at the naked tips. Pin- 
nules rounded. Veins flabellate 5. A. flabellifolium. 
2. Rhizome creeping , scaty, slender. 
Frond 1-2 feet. Pinnules 2-4 in., lanceolate, caudate. Veins very 
close-set 6. A. caudatum. 
