I. FILICES. 
385 
27. LYGODIUM, Swartz. 
Rhizome creeping. — Stipes climbing’, very long, branched, slender, tough, 
like whipcord. Frond dichotomously branched; veins forked, free in the 
New Zealand species ; barren pinnae linear-oblong, fertile flabellately divided 
or similar to the barren. Sori distichous, forming short spikelets projecting 
from the frond. Involucres imbricating, distichous, each containing one 
ovoid capsule. Capsule attached by its side, pointing downwards and in- 
wards, reticulated, the top with radiating striae. Spores obtusely 3-angled. 
A very common tropical genus, of which the New Zealand species is found in no other 
part of the world except Norfolk Island. 
1. L. articulation, A. Rich. Flor. t. 15; — FI. N. Z. ii. 47. Per- 
fectly glabrous. Rhizome slender, covered with brown, slender scales. Stipes 
very numerous, angular, 50-100 ft. long, forming pendulous matted screens 
in the forests, jointed here and there. Fronds dichotomously palmatipartite, 
very much branched ; barren pinnules stalked, divaricating, jointed on the 
rachis, 1-4 in. long, linear or oblong, obtuse or acute, cuneate at the base,- 
often glaucous below ; costa slender; fertile pinnules small, lobed, cuneate or 
fan-shaped, lobed; lobes small, short, with adnate spikelets towards their 
tips. 
Abundant throughout the Northern and Middle Islands, Banks and Solander, etc. 
28. SCHIZ7EA, Smith. 
Rhizome short, creeping. — Stipes rigid, erect, flat or nearly terete. Frond 
simple forked or Habellate ; segments terminated by a short pinnatifid fruiting 
comb-like limb, the incurved divisions of which are covered with imbricating 
capsules. Capsules in 2 parallel series, sessile, naked or partially covered by 
the incurved margins of the divisions, ovoid, reticulated, the top with radi- 
ating striae, bursting laterally. Spores obtusely 3-angular. 
A common tropical genus, rare in the northern temperate zone, more common in the 
southern. 
Frond flattened, flabellately divided above 1. S. dichotoma. 
Frond terete or semiterete, simple or forked 2. S. bifida. 
1. S. dichotoma, Swartz; — FI. N. Z. ii. 47. Frond 6-24 in. high; 
stipes flat or compressed below, above suddenly expanding into a fan-shaped 
limb, of numerous narrow flat segments, each about 2 in. long and t V - tV in. 
broad. Fruiting limb broad, short, £ in. long, of 4-10 pairs of pinnules of 
equal length, with laciniate or fimbriate margins. — Hook, and Grev. Ic. Fil. 
t. 17. 
Northern Island : in marsby places, Bay of Islands, Cunningham ; Manakau Bay, 
Colenso. A common East Indian, Australian, Pacific Island, and African plant. 
2. S. bifida, Swartz FI. N. Z. ii. 47. Fronds crowded, erect, 6-18 
in. high, rigid, wiry, semiterete, grooved dowm one side, simple or forked, 
smooth or slightly rough to the touch. Fruiting limb short, broad, f- 
in. long, of 8-10 pairs of pinnules, with crinite margins. — S. propinqua, 
A. Cunn. 
vol. i. 2 c 
