374 
I. FILICES. 
[. Asplenium . 
11. A. flacciclum, Forst. ; — FI. N. Z. ii. 35. Rhizome stout, erect, 
crowned with large, subulate-lanceolate, membranous scales. Fronds usually 
pendulous, polymorphous, coriaceous, 6 in.-3 ft. long, generally greenish- 
white when dry, lanceolate, acuminate, pinnate or 2 -pinnate ; stipes stout, 
rather short, compressed or 3-gonous, scaly at the base ; rachis winged ; 
lower primary branches of frond 4-10 in. long, lanceolate, often caudate, 
stalked, pinnatifid or pinnate, middle branches pinnatiiid ; upper forked, or 
all much divided into linear-oblong, slightly incurved obtuse pinnules 
in. long; veins one in each segment. Sori oblong, near or on the very mar- 
gins of the segments ; involucre firm. — Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 205 ; A. hetero- 
phyllum, A. Rich. ; Ceenopteris jlaccida , Thunberg; Schkuhr, Fil. t. 82; C. 
novce-Zelandice, Sprengel ; Darea Jlaccida , Smith. 
Var. a. Fronds pendulous, 2-pinnatifid ; pinnae very narrow, distant, cut into deep 
narrow lobes. 
Var. /3. Fronds pendulous, pinnate; pinnae incised or toothed, lobes linear, obtuse. 
Sori marginal. 
Var. y. Fronds erect or pendulous, pinnate ; pinna; falcate-lobed. Sori dorsal or half- 
dorsal. (Passing into A.scleroprium.) 
Var. S. Fronds erect, rigid, deltoid, 2-pinnate; piuuse ovate or lanceolate; pinnules 
shortly stipitate. 
Var. e. Fronds 2-6 in., short, stout, ovate, 2- or 3-pinnate, like those of A. Richardi, but 
very thick and coriaceous. (An alpiue form.) 
Var. £ Fronds large, las, 3-piuuate. — A. Shuttleworthianum, Kimze; Flook. Sp. Fil. 
iii. 210. 
Abundant throughout the Northern and Middle Islands : Banks and Solander, etc. 
Lord Auckland's group, J. D. H. Var. e. Alpine districts of both Northern and 
Middle Islands. Var. J Xermadec Islands, Macgillivrat/. Also a native of the more 
humid parts of Australia and Tasmauia. Oue of the most variable ferns known. 
12. A. arastrale, Braclcenridge. — A. Brownii, Smith, in FI. N. Z. ii. 36. 
Rhizome very stout, creeping. Frond very large, broad, flaccid, membranous, 
pale-green, 2-3 ft. high, broadly deltoid, spreading, 2- or 3-pinnate ; stipes 
long, slender, smooth, polished, scaly at the base ; rachis slender, flexuous, 
glabrous ; primary branches linear-oblong, acute or acuminate ; secondary pin- 
nules 1-2 in. long, oblong-lanceolate, shortly stalked, pinnatifid or pinnate; 
pinnules linear-oblong, obtuse, crenate or incised, rarely entire ; veins simple 
or forked. Sori several on each segment, nearer the costa than the margin; 
involucre cylindric, attached by both margins and bursting with a torn edge 
down one side or the middle. — Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 233; A. Brownii, Hook. 
Ic. PI. t. 978 ; Allintodia australis and A. tenera , Br. 
Northern Island : in damp woods frequent, Banks and Solander, etc. Middle 
Island : Nelson, Travers. A very beautful fern, also found in Norfolk Island, iu South- 
eastern Australia and Tasmania, and uuder a slightly different form in India, the Malay 
Islands, Madeira, the Canaries, and various other parts of the world. Iu New Zealand this 
species becomes smaller and coriaceous in exposed localities. 
19. ASPIDITJM, Swartz. 
Rhizomes slender or stout and creeping, or forming a short, very stout, 
erect or inclined trank. — Fronds in the New Zealand species erect, 2- or 
3-pinnate, alternate on the slender rhizome or tufted on the end of the short 
trunk or stock ; venation various, simple and free in the New Zealand species. 
