Schizaea. | FILICES. 89 
deltoid frond 2-4 in. across or more; branches flattened, -.—=. in. broad ; 
midrib stout, evident; margins sometimes minutely foobhed towards the 
tip. fertile segments terminating the branches, distinctly stalked, erect 
or inclined, {-3 in. long, consisting of 4-10 spreading pinnae gn each side ; 
pinnae 3-t1n. long, linear, fringed with long hairs. Sporangia in two 
closely placed rows.—Hook. and Girev. Ic. Fil. (1829) t.17; A. Gunn. Precur. 
(1836) n. 170; Raoul Choix (1846) 37; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii (1855) 
47; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 385; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. (1873) 480; 
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 694; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 96; Field 
N.Z. Ferns (1890) 151, t. 24, £.2; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 1022. 
NorTH ISLAND : Auckland—In kauri forests from Kaitaia and Mangonui south- 
wards to Tairua and the Lower Waikato, not common; in heated soil near hot springs 
at Orakeikorako, Upper Waikato, T. Kirk, C. J. Norton! Sea-level to 1500 ft. 
A widely spread species, found in the tropical and warm temperate regions of both 
hemispheres, with the exception of the Continent of Africa. It has been recorded from 
Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. 
35. LYGODIUM Swartz. 
Climbing ferns, with long twining stems, often ascending trees to a 
considerable height. Primary pinnae distant on the common rhachis or 
stem, and inserted on it by a short and often almost obsolete petiole, 
dichotomously divided ; the secondary divisions divaricate, stalked, usually 
again dichotomous, or in species not found in New Zealand pinnately divided. 
Sterile pinnules ovate to oblong-lanceolate, ligulate ; fertile usually much 
contracted and frequently copiously divided. Sporangia ovoid, obliquely 
sessile, splitting vertically, crowned by a complete transverse ring, arranged 
in two rows on the under-surface of the contracted fertile pinnules, or 
forming short spikes projecting from the margins of the leafy pinnules, 
each sporangium in the axil of a large scalelike indusium. 
A very distinct genus of about 20 species, widely distributed in the tropics of beth 
hemispheres. The single New Zealand species is endemic. 
1. L. articulatum A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. (1832) 96, t. 15.—Rhizome 
slender, creeping, clothed with glossy chestnut-brown linear scales. Stipites 
very numerous, long, slender, climbing, reaching the tops of tall forest-trees, 
branched, wiry, often intertwined and forming almost impenetrable screens, 
quite smooth and glabrous. Primary pinnae dichotomously patmate- 
partite ; primary petiole short, {-} in. long; two secondary petioles widely 
diverging, lin. or more long, again twice forked; pinnules 2-4 in. long, 
i_lin. broad, jointed at the base, ligulate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 
obtuse or subacute, thinly coriaceous, often glaucous beneath. Veins free. 
Fertile pinnae many times dichotomous, the ultimate pinnules small, much 
contracted, cuneate or flabellate, deeply lobed; the lobes ending in closely 
placed short spikelets, each with 8-12 sporangia on the under-surface.— 
A. Cunn. Precur. (1836) n. 167; Raoul Choix (1846) 37; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. 
Zel. ii (1855) 47; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 385; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 
(1873) 487; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 96; Pield N.Z, Ferns (1890) 152, 
t, 22. f. 4; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 1023; JU. N.Z. Fl. (1914) 
t, 248. L. gracilescens Col. in Trans. N.Z, Inst. xxviii (1896) 620. 
" 
Norrs Istanp: Auckland—In woods from the North Cape to the Bay of Plenty 
and Kawhia, abundant. Sea-level to 2500 ft. Mange-mange. 
