Blechnum. | FILICES. 61 
submembranous, pale brownish-green, pinnate throughout ; rhachis densely 
clothed with spreading subulate scales. Pinnae very numerous, 20-50 
pairs, $-$in. long, +-4in. broad, oblong to orbicular-oblong, obtuse, not 
decurrent, the lower more remote and often shortly stipitate, the upper 
sessile, the uppermost usually adnate ; margins thin, sinuate or denticulate. 
Fertile fronds narrow-linear, erect ; pinnae 4-2 in. long, $in. broad, linear, 
obtuse, erecto-patent.—Lomaria fluviatilis Spreng. Syst. Veg. 1v (1827) 64 ; 
Hook. Sp. Fil. i (1860) 34; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii (1855) 28; Fl. Tasm. u 
(1860) 142, t. 167; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 366; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 
(1873) 181; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 736; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns 
(1882) 69; Field N.Z. Ferns (1890) 109, t. 27, f. 2, 24; Cheesem. Man. 
N.Z. Fl. (1906) 983. L. rotundifolia Raoul Choixw (1846) 9, t. 23. 
L. rotundifolia Col. in Tasm. Journ. Nat. Sci. ii (1846) 179. Stegania 
fluviatilis R. Br. Prodr. (1810) 152. 
NorTH AND SoutH IsLanps, CHATHAM ISLANDS, STEWART IsLAND: From Hokianga 
and Whangaroa southwards, not uncommon in damp hilly forests. Sea-level to 
2500 ft. 
Also in Victoria and Tasmania. A crested form is occasionally seen, and has been 
described by Mr. Colenso as var. ramosa (Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx (1888) 225). 
13. B. membranaceum WMeiten. Ann. Sci. Nat. xv (1861) 77.—Rhizome 
short, stout, suberect, clothed with the bases of the old stipites mixed with 
a few subulate scales. Stipes very short, scaly at the base. Fronds tufted 
at the top of the rhizome, the sterile ones 3-10in. long, #-14 in. broad, 
lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, broadest above the middle, 
gradually narrowed to the base, rather membranous, pale-green, quite 
glabrous, pinnate; rhachis smooth, naked. Pinnae numerous, spreading - 
or erecto-patent, the longest 4-?in. long, about }in. broad, ovate-oblong 
or oblong, obtuse, broadly adnate at the base but not dilated nor decurrent, 
coarsely dentate-serrate, the lower quite distinct at the base, gradually 
becoming smaller and eventually reduced to mere rounded auricles, the 
uppermost more or less confluent. Fertile fronds usually longer than the 
sterile and with longer stipites, pinnate; pinnae distant, 4-}1n. long, 
linear, apiculate——Lomaria membranacea Col. in Hook. Sp, Fal. ii (1860) 
34, t. 145; Hook. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 366; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 
(1873) 181; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 69; Field N.Z. Ferns (1890) 111, 
t. 5, f. 6, 64; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 984. L. oligoneuron Col. 
in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi (1884) 346. lL. intermedia Col. l.c. xix (1887) 274. 
L. pygmaea Col. l.c. xxv (1893) 322. 
Nortu Istanp : Shaded places by the banks of streams, not uncommon throughout. 
Sours Isuanp: In various localities along the east coast from Nelson to Otago, but 
apparently rare and local. Sea-level to 2000 ft. 
Large forms of this, with longer and narrower pinnae rather more closely placed, 
are difficult to distinguish from B. lanceolatum, it, indeed, the two species do not pass 
directly, into one another. In its usual state, however, it is a much smaller plant, with 
shorter and broader obtuse pinnae, distinctly separated from one another, and not dilated 
at the base or decurrent as in lanceolatum. J have seen no specimens from Canterbury 
or Otago. 
14. B.. Fraseri Lwuerss. in Flora (1876) 292.— Rhizome erect, clothed 
with the bases of the old stipites and with a dense tuft of dark chestnut- 
brown scales at the tip, often elongated into a slender caudex 6—24 in. high 
or more, resembling the trunk of a miniature tree-fern. Stipes 3-9 in. 
