18 FILICES. | Pteridvum. 
1. B. aquilinum Kuhn in Deck. Reis. Bot. iii (1879) 11; var. eseulenta 
Hook f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii (1855) 25.—Rhizome stout, as thick as the finger, 
creeping, much branched, often matted, subterranean, producing numerous 
scattered fronds. Stipes variable in length, stout, rigid, erect, brown, 
smooth and shining. Fronds usually from 2-6 ft. long including the stipes, 
but often taller and sometimes 10-12 ft., broadly deltoid in outline, 
coriaceous, glabrous or nearly so when mature, usually more or less 
rusty-pubescent when young, especially on the under-suriace, 3—4-pinnate ; 
rhachises grooved above, usually pubescent. Primary pinnae broad, distant, 
spreading, the lowest pair the largest and most compound, the upper ones 
gradually decreasing in size; secondary and tertiary lanceolate, always 
terminating in a linear obtuse undivided segment. Ultimate segments 
linear or linear-oblong, decurrent at the base. Veins free, once or twice 
forked. Sori usually continuous all round the segment, and often extending 
to the decurrent base. Indusium double, but the inner one often very 
inconspicuous. -— Hook. Sp. Fil. ii (1858) 197, t. 1418 ; Hook. f. Handb. 
N.Z. Fl. (1864) 353; Hook. and Bak. Syn, Fil. (1873) 163 ; Benth. Fl. 
Austral. vii (1878) 731; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 60; Field N.Z. Ferns 
(1890) 92, t. 14, f. 1,14; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 970. P. esculenta 
Forst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 488; Pl. Escul. (1786) 74; A. Rich, Fl. Now. Zel. | 
(1832) 79; A. Cunn. Precur. (1836) n. 200; Raoul Chow (1846) 38. 
Kermaprec Istanps, Norra anp SoutH IsLanps, CHATHAM IsLANDS, STEWART 
Istanp, AUCKLAND AND CAMPBELL Istanps: Abundant throughout, except in dense 
forest, often covering extensive areas, especially in the North Island. Common fern ; 
Bracken ; Rau-aruhe; Rahurahu ; of the root Aruhe, Rot. Sea-level. to 4000 ft. 
P. aquilina, in some of its forms, is almost cosmopolitan; the variety esculenta, 
which chiefly differs in the decurrent bases of the pinnules, is confined to the Southern 
Hemisphere. The starchy rhizome formerly constituted one of the chief vegetable 
foods of the Maoris. For an account of the mode of its preparation, and many interesting 
particulars concerning its use, reference should be made to Mr. Colenso’s paper “ On 
the Vegetable Food of the Ancient New-Zealanders ” (Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii, pp. 1-38). 
30. PAESIA St. Hil. 
Rhizome long, creeping, scaly. Stipes stiff, erect ; rhachis often more 
or less flexuose. Frond finely divided, 3-4-pinnate, usually glandular- 
scabrous or -villous; ultimate segments deeply lobed or toothed. Veins 
free. Sori marginal, linear, placed on a slender receptacle connecting the 
ips of the veins. Indusium usually double; the outer one formed of the 
reflexed margin of the frond; the inner, when present, arising. from the 
inner side of the receptacle. Sporangia stalked, bursting transversely ; 
girt by an incomplete vertical ring. Spores bilateral. 
A small genus of six or seven species distributed through the southern tropics. It 
is very closely allied to Pteridium, and might well be incorporated with it, as in fact 
was done in the “Synopsis Filicum.”” The single New Zealand species is endemic. 
1. P. seaberula Kuhn Chaetopt. (1882) 347 _—Rhizome wide-creeping, 
rigid, wiry, clothed with chestnut-brown scales. Stipes 4-12 in. long, rigid, 
erect, yellow-brown or chestnut-brown, scabrous, glandular-pubescent and 
usually more or less bristly. Fronds 9-18in. high, rarely more, 4—9 in. 
broad, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, rigid, coriaceous, pale yellow- 
ereen, usually copiously glandular-pubescent on both suriaces, rarely almost 
