Aspidiumi] 
I. FILICES. 
377 
distant, 1-4 ft. high, rigidly coriaceous, ovate-deltoid, acuminate, 3-pinnate ; 
stipes stout, and racliis covered with deciduous scales ; primary branches 
erecto-patent, stipitate, lower obliquely deltoid, acuminate, with the lower 
secondary divisions much elongated and divided ; pinnules 1-2 in. long, ovate 
or lanceolate, entire or obtusely serrate or pinna tifid ; segments oblong, ob- 
tuse, rarely acute, entire or obtusely serrate ; veins sunk, veinlets close. 
Sori in 2 rows, nearer the costa than margin ; involucre large, orbicular, 
with a deep sinus. — Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 82 ; Schkuhr, Fil. t. 50 ; A. Cuntiing- 
hamianum , Colenso ; P oly y odium adiantiforme , Forst. 
Northern and Middle Islands : common in woods, etc., Banks and Solander, etc. 
An abundant fern throughout the south temperate zone. 
20. NEFHRODIUM, Br. 
llhizome stout, erect creeping or ascending. — Fronds tufted or distant, 
1-3-pinnate in the New Zealand species. Veins forked and free, rarely 
uuited in the New Zealand species. Sori on the back of the frond, distant 
from the margin, globose. Involucre kidney-shaped, fixed by the sinus to 
the centre of the sorus, membranous, often deciduous. 
A very large tropical and temperate genus. Involucre sometimes absent in N. velutinum, 
often orbicular and peltate in N. hispidum. 
1. Eunephrodium . — Primary veins pinnate ; secondary angularly united. 
Frond lanceolate, pinnate, pubescent 1. N. molle. 
2. Lastrea. — Veins and veinlets all free. 
Frond lanceolate, pinnate, glabrous, with a few bullate scales . . 2. N. thelypteris, f). 
Frond deltoid or 5-angular, 2-4-pinnate, softly tomentose, brown 
when dry 3. N. velutinum. 
Frond deltoid or ovate, 2-4-pinnate, glabrous or pubescent, green 
when dry 4 . N. decompositum. 
Frond rigid, 3- or 4-pinnate, pubescent below. Stipes, rachis, and 
costa hispid with stiff spreading bristles 5. N. hispidum. 
1. BJ. molle, Desvaux. Ehizome short, stout, horizontal, densely rooting. 
Fronds 1-3 ft. high, rather membranous and flaccid, oblong-lanceolate, abrupt 
or narrowed to the base, pinnate, pubescent on both surfaces ; stipes and 
rachis green ; pinnae numerous, horizontal, sessile, 3-5 in. long, oblong or 
oblong-lanceolate, pinnatifid ; pinnules variable in length, oblong, broad or 
narrow, obtuse, falcate ; lowest veins uniting and sending forth a veinlet 
which is prolonged to the sinus, the rest free, simple or forked. Sori usually 
in 2 rows; involucres villous or pubescent. — Hook. Sp. I’d. iv. 67; Poly- 
podium molle , Forst., and Aspidium nympliale , Forst. ; Schkuhr, Fil. t. 34. 
N orthern Island ?, Forster ; Rotomahana {Mrs. Jones ) . Kermadec Islands, Macgilli- 
vray. One of the commonest of tropical and subtropical ferus, also found in New South 
Wales. The Rotomahana habitat I copy from Mrs. Jones’s little work. 
2. N. thelypteris, Desvaux ; var. /3, squamulosum, Schlechtendal, 
Fil. Cap. t. 11. — Nephrodium squamulosum, FI. N. Z. ii. 39. Rhizome 
slender, creeping ?, very long, black. Fronds scattered, 1-2 ft. high, mem- 
branous but firm, lanceolate, glabrous below, pinnate ; stipes slender, pale, 
black at the base, naked or with the costa covered with scattered, pale, mem- 
branous, very convex scales ; pinnae subopposite, sessile, spreading, 1-1 J in. 
