Asplenium.~] 
I. FILICES. 
373 
35. Rhizome short, fibrous. Frond 2-12 in. long, erect, oblong and pin- 
nate or ovate and 2-pinnate, rather membranous ; stipes slender, pale brown, 
with subulate scales at the base and narrower deciduous scales above ; pri- 
mary pinnae 1-2 in. long, long stalked ; pinnules rhombeo-subrotund, stalked, 
\ in. long, lobed toothed or pinnatifid ; veins subflabellate, dichotomous. 
Son 3-5, oblong, on the disk of the pinnule ; iuvolucre membranous. — 
Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 194; A. adiantoides, Raoul, Choix, t. 1, not of Raddi ; 
Hook. Ic. PI. t. 983. 
Var. B. Colensoi, Moore. Pinnules shortly stalked, deeply cut into narrow segments, 
with the sori on their margins. — A. Adiantoides , B Colensoi, Hook. f. in Ic. PI. t. 984 ; A. 
Colensoi, in Loud. Journ. Bot. iii. 26. 
Northern Island : mountains of the east coast and interior, Colenso. Middle Island : 
Nelson and Canterbury alps, Travers ; Akaroa, Raoul, Lyall ; Otago, Sector and Buchanan. 
Var. p, Wairarapa valley, etc., Lyall, Colenso ; Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago, Sinclair , 
Travers, etc. This passes into A. Richardi and fiaccidum. 
9. A. bulbiferum, Forst.; — FI. N. Z. ii. 197. Rhizome stout, hori- 
zontal or oblique, scaly at the tip. Frauds flaccid, erect pendulous or de- 
cimate, bright-green, thinly coriaceous, 1-3 ft. long, ovate-lanceolate, pinnato- 
pinnatifid or 2- or 3-pinnate ; stipes green, semiterete or compressed, scaly 
at the base and deciduously so above ; pinnules often proliferous, 6 in. long, 
long-stalked, lanceolate, acuminate; segments 2 in. long, ovate-oblong, 
pinnatifid. Sori on the disk of the more entire pinnules, and sides of the lobes 
of the more cut ones, oblique, short, oblong ; involucre firm, greenish. — 
Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 196; Ic. PI. t. 423; Homb. and Jacq. Voy. au Pole Sud, 
Crypt, t. 3. 
Var. P. laxa. Fronds pendulous, decompound ; segments narrow. — Ccenopteris appendi- 
culata. Lab iU. FI. Nov. Roll. t. 243 ; A. trisle ?, Raoul, Choix. ; A. laxum, Br. ; Homb. and 
Jacq. Voy. au Pole Sud, t. 3 bis. 
Var. y. tripinnata. Fronds tripinnate, as in A. flaccidum, hut more membranous. — A. 
tremulum, Homb. and Jacq. 1. c. t. 3 bis. 
Abundant in damp woods throughout the Northern and Middle Islands, on the ground, 
and on rocks and trees, Banks and Solander, etc. Also frequent in South-east Australia 
and Tasmauia, and in some parts of Iudia; it is united by varieties with all the other spe- 
cies of this section. 
10. A. Richardi, Hook. f. FI. N. Z. ii. 197. Rhizome short, stout, 
tipped with subulate scales. Fronds erect, 3-5 in. long, rather flaccid, 
ovate, acuminate, 2-pinnate ; stipes stout ; pinnae stalked, 1-1 \ in. long, 
close set, lanceolate ; pinnules crowded, sessile, ovate or obovate, obtuse, 
-g— §■ in. long, pinnatifid ; segments obtuse, upper confluent ; veins one to each 
segment, forked, thickened at the tip. Sori solitary, broad, oblong, close to 
the margin of each segment ; involucre membranous. — Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 
197, excl. var. (3 ; A. adiantoides, var. Richardi, Hook. f. in Ic. PI. t. 977 ; 
A. Raoidii, var. Richardi , Mettenius. 
Middle Island: New River, Herb. A. Richard. A more erect plant than A. 
Hookerianum, with an ovate frond, closer pinnae, and crowded sessile pinnules ; its habit 
is that of erect states of A. flaccidum, but it is very much more membranous. I suspect, 
however, that it is nothing but a form of one of these species. In the ‘ Species Fihcum ’ Sir 
W. Hooker refers B Colensoi of A. Hookerianum to this, but is now disposed to keep it 
where I had placed it ; some specimens of this var. B appear to me to be absolutely inter- 
mediate. 
