99 FILICES. | Marattia. 
= 
38. MARATTIA Smith. 
Rhizome large, thick and swollen. Fronds numerous, large, 2-3-pinnate ; 
stipes stout, articulated at the base, and furnished with two adnate auricles. 
Veins all free. Sori oblong, placed at or near the tip of the veins, close 
to the margin of the pinnules, each sorus consisting of two parallel rows 
containing 4-12 sporangia, the sporangia of each row completely united 
into a boat-shaped mass called a synangium. Synangia coriaceous, the 
outer face smooth and convex, the inner flat and pierced by the narrow 
transverse slits of the dehiscent sporangia. Spores globose-tetrahedral. 
A small genus of about 20 species, widely scattered through the tropical regions 
of both hemispheres and the warmer part of the South Temperate Zone. The single New 
Zealand species is found in Australia and Polynesia, South Africa, Malaya, Philippines, 
and India. ‘ 
1. M. fraxinea Smith Ic. Ined. (1790) t. 48.—Rhizome a large irre- 
cularly shaped tuberous mass. Stipes stout, 1-2 ft. long or more, brownish- 
green, jointed at the base and furnished with large clasping auricles 
which are persistent on the rhizome. Fronds large, in fully grown speci- 
mens 6-12 ft. long, 2-5 it. broad, ovate-deltoid, dark-green and glossy, 
coriaceous, 2-pinnate or rarely 3-pinnate. Primary pinnae 9in. to 3 ft. 
long, often more than 1 ft. broad; pinnules shortly stalked, 3-6 in. long, 
4—] in. broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, obliquely cuneate 
or rounded at the base; margins minutely serrulate ; costa slightly scaly. 
Veins rather close, parallel, simple or sparingly forked. Sori oblong, 
brownish, +,—} in. long, on the veins just within the margin of the pinnules ; 
sporangia 8-12 to each synangium.—Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. (1873) 440 ; 
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 695; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 97; Field 
N.Z. Ferns (1890) 153, t. 25, f. 5; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 1026. 
M. salicina Smith in Rees Cyclop. xxii (1802-20) 89; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. 
Zel. 11 (1855) 49; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 386. 
Norru Isnann: Lowland forests from Mangonui southwards to Cape Egmont 
and Waitotara, not common, usually in rich damp soils. Para ; Parareka. Sea- 
level to 1000 ft. 
The large starchy rhizome was formerly eaten by the Maoris, and hence the plant 
was occasionally cultivated near their villages. It is now fast becoming rare. 
39. OPHIOGLOSSUM Linn. 
Rhizome usually short and suberect, sometimes slightly tuberous or 
nodose; roots thick and fleshy, simple, sometimes giving rise to adven- 
titious buds. Fronds solitary or 2-3 at the top of the rhizome, not 
circinate, stipitate, fleshy, composed of two portions; one a leafy more 
or less expanded sterile lamina, with reticulated venation; the other a 
narrow and much-contracted spike-like fertile part, which is inserted on 
the petiole or lamina of the sterile portion by a peduncle of variable 
length. Sporangia closely packed in 2 rows on the fertile spike and partly 
embedded in its tissue, globose, not annulate, dehiscing by a transverse 
slit; spores numerous, tetrahedral. 
A small genus, widely spread in both temperate and tropical regions. There is 
much uncertainty as to the limits of the species, which are estimated by some authors 
at 8-10 and by others (C. Christensen, for instance) at as many as 40. In the present 
work I have largely followed Prantl’s latest arrangement, as far as the want of material 
allows me to do so. 
