a  —e Ay -Plus. @tcac,. Poparys, 
Vol. XVN 1459-Ra, seur. 
Gleichenia. | FILICES. 85 
numerous, closely placed, broadly ovate or orbicular, obtuse, adnate by 
a broad base, flat or concave beneath, not cucullate nor pouch-shaped, 
coriaceous or almost membranous, green or glaucous beneath, glabrous or 
the costa more or less woolly and chaffy. Veins pinnately branched. Sori 
solitary in the segments, placed at the tip of the exterior veinlet near the 
upper angle of the segment, of 2-4 sporangia.—Hook. and Bak. Syn. Ful. 
(1873) 11; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 347 (excl. var. hecistophylla) ; 
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 697; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 25; Field 
N.Z. Ferns (1890) 36, t. 2, £. 2; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 1017. 
G. semi-vestita Labill. Sert. Nov. Cal. (1824) 8, t. 11; Hook. Sp. Fil. 1 (1846) 
3, t. 24; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii (1855) 5 (excl. var. hecistophylla). 
G. microphylla R. Br. Prodr. (1910) 161. G. speluncae R. Br. Prodr. (1810) 
160. G. punctulata Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi (1884) 344. G. patens 
Col. on Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx (1888) 212. 
NortH AND SoutH Isuanps, STEWART ISLAND: From the North Cape southwards, 
plentiful in the North Island, but rare and local to the south of Cook Strait. Sea- 
level to 2000 ft. Waewaekaka ; Waewaematuku. 
Common in Australia, also extending to New Caledonia and Malaya. Mr. Colenso’s 
G. patens is an excessively proliferous state with slender almost subscandent stems, 
forming large masses in heated soil near hot springs at Taupo. The fronds are more 
membranous than usual, but that and its other peculiarities are easily accounted for by 
the exceptional nature of its habitat. 
2. G. dicarpa R. Br. Prodr. (1810) 161.—Very similar to G. corcmata 
in habitvand mode of growth, but smaller,1—-24 ft. high. Rhizome slender, 
wiry, usually clothed with chaffy scales. Stipes smooth, slender, glabrous 
or scaly-hispid. Fronds several times dichotomous, usually proliferous ; 
branches spreading in a horizontal plane, often interlaced; rhachides 
scaly and hairy or sometimes almost glabrous. Pinnae numerous along 
the branches, spreading, $—I} in. long, 3-74, 1n. broad, very narrow-linear, 
deeply and uniformly pinnatifid. Segments numerous, closely placed, — 
small, suborbicular, coriaceous, convex above, the margins so much recurved 
beneath that the segment is cucullate or pouch-shaped, usually clothed 
with woolly hairs beneath. Sori one to each segment, just visible in the 
pocket-like cavity of the segment, or concealed by woolly hairs ; sporangia, 
1-2, rarely more—Hook. Sp. Fil. i (1846) 3, t. lo; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. v1 
(1855) 5; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 348; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 698 ; 
Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fal. (1873) 12; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 25; Preld 
N.Z. Ferns (1890) 37, t. 3, £. 1; ne Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 1018. 
~ Var. heeistophylla. —Usually 1-3 ft. “ioe Froud eat closely dichoto- 
mously branched, usually spreading in a horizontal plane; stipes and rhachis densely 
woolly and scaly. Segments strongly incurved beneath, sometimes as much as in the 
typical form, but variable in this respect.—G. hecistophylla A. Cunn. Precur. (1836) 
n. 163; Hook. Sp. Fil. i (1846) 4, t. 28. G. semi-vestita var. hecistophylia Hook. f. Fl. 
Nov. Zel. ii (1855) 5. . Circinata var. hecistophylla Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 348. 
Var. alpina Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii (1860) 131.—Smaller and more compactly tufted, 
2-12in. high; rhachis, young shoots, and under-surface of segments densely clothed 
with ferruginous wool mixed with scales. Fronds much smaller and. more sparingly 
divided.—-Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 348; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 698. G. alpina 
R. Br. Prodr. (1810) 161; Hook. and Grev. Ic. Fil. (1829) t. 58; Hook. Sp. Fil.i (1846) 2. 
NortH AND SoutH ISLANDS, STEWART ISLAND, CHATHAM ISLANDS: Var. hecistophylla 
abundant in swampy places on poor soils in the North Island, local elsewhere. Sea- 
level to 2000 ft. Var. alpina: Mountainous localities from Moehau (Cape Colville) 
and Rotorua southwards, ascending to 4500 ft. 
v4 t. 5 ‘/ 
a Sr aes 
