Lepitopteris.} ‘ R: Rey 91 
hag FA Aymanophyiivides *Presl Suppl. Tent. Pierid. (1845) 71.—Rhizome 
stout, erect, often produced into a short thick caudex. Stipes 6-12 in. 
long, slender, wiry, erect, brownish-green, smooth and glabrous or more 
or less clothed with floccose tomentum. Fronds forming a crown at the 
‘top of the rhizome, 1-21 ft. long, 6-12 in. broad, ovate-deltoid to lanceo- 
late-deltoid, acuminate, truncate at the base, very thin and membranous, 
pellucid, dark-green, 5- -pinnatifid : rhachis and costae more or less clothed 
with reddish-brown floccose hairs or nearly glabrous. Primary pinnae 
rather close, 3-6 in. long, 3-14 in. broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceoiate, 
acuminate, the lower ones not gradually reduced in ae and becoming 
very small. Pinnules close-set, $-?in. long, about in. broad, linear- 
oblong, deeply pinnatifid. Seoments linear, erecto- “patent, acute, entire 
or forked or sometimes trifid. Sporangia on the midrib of the segments, 
usually confined to the lower half.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov, Zel. ii (1855) 48; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 384. Todea hymenophylloides A. Rich. Fl, Nouv. 
Zel. (1832) 97, t. 16; Hook. Gen. Fil. (1842) t. 468; Garden Ferns (1862) 
t. 54; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. (1873) 427; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 93 ; 
Field N.Z. Ferns (1890) 148, t. 4, £. 3; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 1025. 
T. pellucida Hook. and Grev. in Bot. Mise. iii (1833) 232. T. marginata 
Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxix (1897) 419. 
NorrH anp Sours Isnanps, Stewart Istanp: From the North Cape south- 
wards, not uncommon in forest districts. Sea-level to 3000 ft. 
Confined to New Zealand. <A state with the pinnae rather more closely placed, 
and with the lower ones more or less reduced in size, approaches 7’. swperba, and is 
often distinguished as var. intermedia by fern-collectors. 
2. L. superba Presl in Abh. Bohm. v (1848) 326.—Rhizome stout, 
forming a thick erect caudex 1-3 it. high, coated with densely matted 
fibrous rootlets. Stipes 1-4 in. long, stout, erect, more or less densely 
tomentose. Hronds forming a handsome spreading crown at the top of the 
rhizome, 13-4 ft. long, 6- 10 in. broad, lanceolate, acuminate, very gradually 
narrowed to the base, dark-green, thin and membranous, pellucid, 3-pin- 
natifid; rhachis stout, densely woolly-tomentose, as are the secondary 
rhachises. Primary pinnae very oo ae set, the longest ones 
about the middle of the frond, 3-6 in. long, $—# in. broad, linear or linear- 
lanceolate, acuminate; the lower ones oradually diminishing ae size, the 
lowermost minute. Pinnules very close, much overlapping, 4 jf in. long, 
linear-oblong, pinnatifid almost to the base. Segments narrow- -linear, 
simple or forked. Sporangia much as in 7. hymenophylloides. —Hook. Ie. 
Plant. (1854) t. 910; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel, ii (1855) 48; Handb. N.Z. Fi. 
(1864) 384. Todea superba Col. in Tasm. Journ, Nat. Ser. i (1846) 138 ; 
Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. (1873) 428; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 94; 
Field N.Z. Ferns (i890) 149, t. 21, f. 4; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 
1025, and Ill. N.Z. #l. (1914) t. 249. 
NortH and Sours Isnanps, Stewart IstAnp: in dense moist forests from 
Te Aroha and Pirongia southwards, not uncommon, except in Marlborough, Canter- 
bury, and the north “ot Otago, where it is rare and local, Crape-fern ; Prince of 
Wales's Feather. Sea-level to 3500 ft. 
Probably the most beautiful fern in New Zealand. It is closely allied to the 
preceding, and is connected with it by intermediate forms. Usually, however, it is 
readily distinguished by the larger and narrower frond, which tapers very gradually 
to the base, aad by the closer and denser pinnules, which overlap considerably, the 
segments often turning up towards the upper side of the frond. 
