Asplenium. | FILICES. 47 
4. A. caudatum Forst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 432.-—Rhizome short, creeping, 
clothed with dark-brown linear scales. Stipes 6-9 in. long, densely clothed 
with fibrillose scales or almost naked. Frond 1-2 ft. long, 3-8in. broad, 
lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, coriaceous, dark-green, glabrous 
or deciduously villous, pinnate; rhachis bristly or almost glabrous. 
Pinnae 15-30 pairs, spreading, stipitate, 14-4in. long, $-jin. broad, 
narrow-lanceolate, narrowed into a long acuminate point, obliquely cuneate 
at the base, the upper edge rounded or auricled, the lower edge excised, 
deeply lobed or pinnatifid, sometimes more than half-way down to the 
midrib, lobes sharply incised. Veins distinct, close, oblique, forked. Sori 
shorter than in A. adiantoides, in an oblique row close to the midrib of the 
pinnae, not nearly reaching the margin.—Hook. Sp. Fil. in (1860) 152 ; 
Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 372; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fal. (1873) 
909: Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 75; Field N.Z. Ferns (1890) 118; 
Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 989. 
Kermapec Istanps: Sunday Island, not uncommon, McGillivray, T. Pe. 
W. R. B. Oliver ! 
A widely spread plant, found in most tropical regions. Doubtfully distinct from 
A. adiantoides, from which it chiefly differs in the narrower and more caudate pinnae 
and shorter sori. 
5. A. obtusatum Forst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 430.—Rhizome short, thick, 
often forming a hard rounded mass, densely clothed with large brown 
shining ovate-lanceolate scales. Stipes 2-6in. long, erect, very stout, 
almost fleshy, greyish-green, densely scaly at the base. Fronds 2-12 in. 
long without the stipes, 1-3in. broad, linear-oblong, acute, very thick 
and coriaceous or almost cartilaginous, glabrous or slightly paleaceous 
when young, pinnate ; rhachis broad, often margined, channelled above. 
Pinnae 6-20 pairs, close-set, often overlapping, shortly stipitate, ¢-13 in. 
long, 4-2in. broad, oblong or linear-oblong, obtuse and rounded at the 
apex, the terminal pinna alone acute, obliquely truncate-cuneate at the 
base; margins thick and cartilaginous, crenate-serrate. Veins obscure, 
simple or forked. Sori oblique to the midrib, usually copious, short, 
linear-oblong or linear, not reaching the margin.—A. Cunn. Precur. (1836) 
n. 191; Raoul Choix (1846) 37; Homb. et Jacq. Voy. au Pole Sud (1852) 
Crypt. t. 1, £. B, small specimen ; Hook. Sp. Fil. iii (1860) 96; Hook. f. Fl. 
Nov. Zel. ii (1855) 33; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 371; Hook. and Bak. Syn. 
Fil. (1873) 207; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 747 ; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns 
(1882) 73; Field N.Z. Ferns (1890) 118, excl. all varieties quoted ; Cheesem., 
Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 990. 
Kermapsc Istanps: Abundant on maritime rocks, McGillivray, T. F. C., 
Miss Shakespear! NorTH AND SOUTH IstANDS: On maritime rocks and outlying 
islands from the Three Kings Islands and the North Cape to Foveaux Strait, but 
often local or absent from wide stretches of the coast. CHATHAM ISLANDS, STEWART 
JsLAND, AUCKLAND AND CAMPBELL ISLANDS, AntipopEs Istanp: Apparently not 
uncommon near the sea. 
A. ohiusatum is here restricted to Forster’s original plant, which appears to ke 
purely littoral. It has a wide range outside New Zealand, being found in Anstralia 
and Tasmania, several of the Pacific islands, Juan Fernandez, the coasts of extra- 
tropical South America, Tristan d’Acunha, and Possession Island. 
6. A. lucidum Forst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 427—Rhizome short, stout, 
often forming a hard and woody rounded caudex, clothed at the top 
with large brown shining ovate-acuminate scales. Stipes 6-18 in. long, 
