Dicksonia. | FILICES. m | 21 
under-surface of the frond, 5-12 on each segment or 1 to ead lobule. 
Indusium rather large, both valves concave—A. Cunn. Precu®. (1836) 
n. 216; fiaoul Choix (1846) 38; Hook. Sp. Fil. i (1846) 68; ‘Hook. f. 
Fl. Nov. Zel. u (1855) 9; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 361; Hook. and Bak. 
Syn. Hil. (1873) 51; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 31; Field N.Z. Ferns 
(1850) 50, t. 10, f. 6, and t. 25, £.6; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 953. 
D. gracilis Cel. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv (1883) p. 306. Trichomanes 
squarrosum /orst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 476. 
NortH AND SourH Isnanps, Srewart Istanp, CHatHam IsLANDS.—Abundant 
in woods throughout. Sea-level to 2500 ft. Weki or Wheki. 
Easily recognized by the slender blackish trunk, harsh and coriaceous fronds, dar's- 
coloured stipes rough with small tubercles beneath, and rather large copious sori. The 
trunk is occasionally branched and sometimes produces numerous adventitious buds 
along its whole length, crowned with miniature fronds. A form possessing this. 
peculiarity, and with the fronds rather narrower and more finely cut than usual, was 
described by Mr. Colenso as a distinct species under the name of D. gracilis. I cannot. 
separate it even as a variety. 
2. B. fibrosa Col. in Tasm. Journ. Nat. Sci. ii (1846) 179—Trunk 
8-20 ft. high, stout, columnar, everywhere thickly coated with matted 
fibrous aerial rootlets, giving it a diameter when mature of from 1-2 ft., 
clothed towards the top with the old pendent withered fronds. Fronds 
numerous, 30 or more, spreading, 4-8 ft. long, 14-2 ft. broad, lanceolate, 
2—3-pinnate, coriaceous but not so much so as in D. squarrosa. Stipes 
very short, clothed at the base with dense bright red-brown fibrillose 
scales; rhachis and costae pale-brown, smooth, densely pilose on both 
surfaces with soft brownish hairs. Primary pinnae 4-10 in. long, 14-24 in. 
broad, lanceolate, acuminate or almost caudate; secondary 3-1} in. long, 
4-¢1n. broad, linear or linear-oblong, pinnatifid or pinnate at the very 
base. Segments rather close, falcate, acute; the barren ones larger and 
broader, almost flat, acutely coarsely toothed ; fertile smaller, contracted, 
concave, obtusely pinnatifid. Sori very numerous, covering the whole 
under-surface of the frond, small, 3-6 to each segment or 1 to each 
lobule-—Hook. Sp. Fil. i (1846) 68, t. 238; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 
(1873) 461; Meld N.Z. Ferns (1890) 51, t. 10, f. 5, and t. 25, f. 1; 
Cheesem, Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 953. D. antarctica Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 
ui (1855) 10; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 351; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882)-31 
(not of Labiil.). D. intermedia Col. ex Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. (1873) 
461. D. Sparrmanniana Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xii (1880) 364. 
D. microcarpa Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx (1888) 214. 
NortH AND Soutu Isnanps: From Tauranga and the Middle Waikato southwards, 
abundant in forests. CHATHAM Istanps: Miss Seddon !/ Sea-level to 2500 ft. 
Wekt-ponga ; Kuripaka. 
Very close indeed to the Australian D. antarctica, but a much smaller plant, with 
densely pilose rhachides and costae, and smaller sori. Mr. Colenso’s D. Sparrmanniana 
is a short-trunked form with rather broader fertile segments; and his D. macrocarpa 
has smaller and more finely cut fronds, with smaller sori; but they both merge 
gradually into the ordinary form. ‘The Maoris formerly sliced the fibrous outside of 
the trunk into slabs, and used them in the construction of their food-houses, for the. 
purpose of excluding rats. 
3. D. lanata Col. im Tasm. Journ. Nat. Sci. ii (1846) 181.— 
Caudex usually long, prostrate and rooting, as thick as the wrist; more 
rarely short, stout, erect, and attaining a height of 3-6ft. Fronds few, 
3-6 ft. long, 1-3 ft. broad, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 2-3- 
