372 
I. FILICES. 
\_Asplenium. 
numerous, linear, erect, 3-12 in. long, pinnate ; stipes smooth, polished, 
margined, black ; pinnules numerous, rather coriaceous, small, horizontal, 
scarcely stalked, J in. long, oblong or obovate, obliquely cuneate at the 
base, upper margin near the base rounded truncate or auricled, lower excised, 
entire or crenate; veins distant oblique, usually forked. Sori oblique, in 
2 series ; involucre pale brown, membranous, entire or jagged. — Hook. Sp. 
Fil. iii. 136. 
Middle Island: Kaikoras Mountains, Sinclair; Acheron valley, Travers; Canterbury, 
Southern Alps, Sinclair and Haast ; Otago, lake district, Hector and Buchanan. A very 
common fern throughout the northern temperate hemisphere ; also found in South Africa, 
Australia, Tasmania, the Sandwich Islands, and the Andes of South America. 
5. A. flabellifolium, Cavanilles ; — FI. N. Z. ii. 33. llhizorae 0. 
Fronds tufted, flaccid, spreading decumbent or pendulous, often rooting at 
the long tips, 4-18 in. long, linear, pinnate ; stipes and raehis smooth, naked 
or with a few small black scales, slender, green ; pinnules numerous, very 
variable, ^— | in. long, shortly stalked, bright green, orbicular or rhomboid, 
cuneate or reniform at the base ; outer margin coarsely crenate or lobed ; 
veins flabellate. Sori 3 or 4, radiating from the base of the pinnules ; invo- 
lucre pale brown, membranous. — Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 146 ; A. Jlabelliforme, 
Hook. Exot. Flora, t. 208. 
Abundant throughout the Northern and Middle Islands, Banlcs and Solander, etc., 
on rocks and in stony places. Also frequent in Australia and Tasmania. 
6. A. caudatum, Forst. Ehizome stout, terete, creeping. Fronds 
broadly lanceolate, acuminate, 1-2 ft. long, very coriaceous, pinnate, pinna- 
tifid towards the tip ; stipes below, and young raehis brown and clothed with 
large, falcate, imbricate, subulate, shining scales ; pinnules rather remote, 2-4 
in. long, stalked, lanceolate from an obliquely cuneate subrhomboid base, long- 
acuminate, upper base rounded or auricled, lower more or less excised, 
coarsely serrate or pinnatifid, lower serratures again cut ; veins erecto-pntent, 
generally forked. Sori linear, long, almost parallel to the costa, often con- 
fluent ; involucre firm and membranous. — Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 152 ; Schkuhr, 
Filices, t. 77. 
Kermadec Island, Macgillivruy . Also found in Australia, the Pacific and Malay Islands, 
and India. Apparently a form of A. falcatum. 
7. A. falcatum, Lamarck. — A. polyodon , Forst. FI. N. Z. ii. 34. 
Ehizome creeping, clothed with large brown scales. Fronds lanceolate or 
linear-lanceolate, coriaceous, 8 in.-2 ft. long, erect, pinnate ; stipes long, 
brown, and raehis villous with slender scales ; pinnules horizontal, long-stalked, 
4-6 in. long, |-i in. broad, lanceolate, cuneate at the base, gradually nar- 
rowed to an acuminate point, lobed or pinnatifid, upper base broader au- 
ricled, lower excised; veins close, erecto-patent with forked branches. Sori 
linear, numerous, giving a striate appearance to the pinnules ; involucre nar- 
row, firm, membranous. — Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 160. 
Common throughout the Northern Island, Banks and Solander , etc. A most abundant 
fern in all tropical and warm south temperate latitudes, but not extending into Tasmania. 
It passes into A. caudatum. 
8. A. Hookerianum, Colenso. — A. adiantoides, var. a, FI. N. Z. ii. 
