32 FILICES. [ Polystichum. 
NortH AND Sours Istanps, Stewart Isuanp, CuatHam Is~taAnps: Abundant in 
forests throughout, often climbing up trees. Sea-level to 2000 ft. 
A widely distributed fern, found in temperate Australia, Polynesia, South Africa, 
ie a and i in America stretching is cape to Patagonia. 
ra 
8, Pp. aristatum Presi Tent. Prerid. (1836) 83.—Rhizome long, stout, 
creeping, clothed with linear-subulate ferruginous scales. Stipes 9-18 in. 
long, stout, densely clothed towards the base with linear fibrillose scales. 
Fronds scattered, 1-2 ft. long by 9-12 1m. broad, ovate-deltoid, acuminate, 
coriaceous, dark-green and glossy, both surfaces naked, 3-pinnate; rhachis 
glabrous or sparingly paleaceous. Primary pinnae stipitate, lanceolate, 
acuminate, pinnate or 2-pinnate; the lowest pair the longest, 6-9 in. long, 
lanceolate-deltoid, with an elongated basal pinnule. Pinnules obliquely 
ovate-lanceolate or narrow ovate-rhomboid, irregularly dentate with the 
teeth ending in bristle-like points. Sori rather small, in 2 rows near the 
midrib. Indusium smooth, flat, orbicular or rarely slightly reniform.— 
Polypodium aristatum Jorst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 448. Aspidium aristatum 
Swartz Syn. Fil. (1806) 58; Hook. Sp. Fal. iv (1862) 27; Hook. f. Handb. 
N.Z. Fl. (1864) 376; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. (1873) 255; Benth. £1. 
Austral. vii (1878) 757; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 80; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. 
FI. (1906) 1001. 
KermaApec Istanps: Sunday Island, abundant, McGillivray, T. F. C., Oliver / 
A most abundant Polynesian plant, also found in tropical Australia, Malaya, India, 
China, Japan, and South Africa, 
10. DRYOPTERIS Adanson. 
Rhizome long and creeping, or short and tufted. Fronds crowded at 
the top of the rhizome or scattered along it, very varicus in size and form, 
frequently pinnate with the pinnae pinnatifid, or 2—3-pinnate or even decom- 
pound. Veins ail free, or the lower veinlets in a lobe united by their tips 
to those of the adjoining lobes, or (in species not found in New Zealand) 
copiously anastomesing. Sori subeglobose, dorsal, placed on the back or 
at the tip of a vein. Indusium usually conspicuous, but not infrequently 
feebly developed or even absent, cordate or reniform, attached by the sinus, 
membranous, often concealing the sorus when young. Sporangia stalked, 
surrounded hy an incomplete vertical ring, bursting transversely. 
he genus Dryopteris, which through priority of nomenclature now takes the place 
of, Nephrodium, and which has been considerably enlarged by the inclusion of those 
syecies of Polypodium which only differ from Nephrodium in the absence of an indusium, 
“now constitutes one of the largest genera of ferns. Of the 9 species found in New 
Zealand, 5 ase widely distributed, 3 are found in Australia or Polynesia, and 1 is endemic. 
Subgenus I. Lastrua. Veins and veinlets all free. Indusium present. 
Rhizome long, creeping. Fronds 6-12 in. long without the stipes, 
META DAANOUS, glabrous except a few scales on the under-surface 
of the rhachis and costae .. 1. D. Thelypteris. 
Rees long, creeping. Fronds 9-18 i in. W ithout the stipes, pale- 
sreen, finely pubescent. Stipes pubescent .. 2. D. decomposita. 
Rhizome short, tufted. Fronds 6-14 in., dark-green, glabrous except 
the rhachis and costae. Stipes nearly g giabrous 3. D. glabelia. 
Rhizome short, tufted. Fronds 9-18 in., reddish- brown, ‘both sur- . 
faces clothed with short velvety } pubescence .. 4. D. velutina. 
Rhizome short. Fronds 1-3 ft., Sonte or ovate Janceolate, pale- 
green, membranous; rhachises and under-surfaces with fine ' 
spreading hairs .. s. +3 wh i, .. . D. setigera. 
