56 FILICES. | Blechnum. 
base. Sterile fronds numerous, forming a crown at the top of the rhizome, 
erect or spreading, 1-3 ft. high, 3-6 in. broad, lanceolate or narrow elliptic- 
lanceolate, gradually tapering from the middle to both ends, acuminate, 
dark-green, firm but scarcely coriaceous, quite glabrous, deeply pinnatifid 
or pinnate at the base. Pinnae numerous, close-set, horizontally spreading, 
13-8 in. long, 4-2 in. broad, lanceolate, tapering from a broad adnate base 
to an acuminate point, subfalcate, the lower ones gradually reduced in 
size to minute auricles, margins crenulate ; veins fine, close, forked. Fertile 
fronds rather shorter than the sterile, pinnate ; pinnae remote, very narrow- 
linear, 2-3 in. long, apiculate-—Lomaria Norfolkiana Heward in Lond. 
Journ. Bot. (1842) 122; Bak. in Ann. Bot. v (1891) 219; Cheesem. Man. 
N.Z. Fl. (1906) 977. L. acuminata Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. (1873) 481 ; 
Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 66. L. attenuata Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 
(1864) 368; Meld N.Z. Ferns (1890) 101 (not of Willd.). 
KeRMADEC ISLANDS: Sunday Island, abundant, McGillivray, T. F. C., Oliver: 
NortH Isnranp: Three Kings Islands, 7’. F. C. Little Barrier Island, Reischek / 
Pok’. 
Also in Norfolk Island. It can only be distinguished from B. lanceolatum by the 
greater size, the long acuminate sterile pinnae, and the much longer fertile pinnae, 
and might well be regarded as a variety only. On both the Three Kings Islands and 
the Little Barrier it appears to gradually merge into the ordinary state of B. lanceo- 
latum. | 
5. B. lanceolatum Sturm Hnum. Pl. Chile (1858) 25.—Rhizome short, 
stout, erect or inclined, rarely produced into a short caudex 3-6 in. high. 
Stipes 2-6 in. long, firm, erect, dark-brown at the base and clothed with 
subulate scales, paler and glabrous above. Fronds tufted, forming a crown 
at the top of the rhizome ;: the sterile ones 6-18 in. long, 2-4 in. broad, 
lanceolate, acuminate, gradually narrowed to the base, rather membranous, 
pale-green or dark-green, quite glabrous, pinnate below, pinnatifid above. 
Pinnae numerous, close-set, horizontally spreading or ascending, 1-2 in. 
long, ¢-¢in. broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, attached by a broad 
somewhat dilated base, gradually tapering to an obtuse or acute point, 
slightly falcate, usually sinuate-crenate towards the tip, rarely entire ; 
veins conspicuous, free, forked. Fertile fronds usually shorter than the 
sterile, 1-2in. broad, pinnate; pinnae 3—-l4in. long, distant, narrow-linear, 
acute or apiculate.—Lomaria lanceolata Spreng. Syst. Veg. iv (1827) 62; 
A. Cunn. Precur. (1836) n. 180; Raoul Choix (1846) 37; Hook. Ic. Plant. 
t. 429; Sp. Fil. ii (1860) 11; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii (1855) 29; Handb. - 
N.Z. Fl. (1864) 367; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. (1873) 177; Benth. Fl. 
Austral. vii (1878) 735; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 66; Field N.Z. Ferns 
(1890) 102, t. Il, f. 2, 24; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 976. 
L. aggregata Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx (1888) 223; Field N.Z. Ferns 
(1890) 103, t. 29, f. 7, 7a. 
NortH AND SoutH IsLtanps, CuatHam IsLanps, Stewart Istanp: From the 
North Cape southwards, abundant by the margins of streams, &c. Sea-level to 2500 ft. 
Also in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, ard the Pacific islands. A variable 
plant. Large specimens pass into B. Norfolkianum, and smaller ones are sometimes 
difficult to separate from B. membranaceum. 
6. B. durum C. Christen. Ind. Fil. (1905) 153.—Rhizome stout, erect, 
clothed with the bases of the old stipites, sometimes lengthened into a 
short caudex. Stipes 1-2in. long, clothed at the base with large ovate- 
