92 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- 
gularly 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 ft. broad, ovate-deltoid, dark-green and glossy, 
coriaceous, 2-pinnate or rarely 3-pinnate. Primary pinnae 9 in. to 3 ft. 
long, often more than 1 ft. broad; pinnules shortly stalked, 3-6 in. long, 
3-1 in. broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, obliquely cuneate 
or rounded at the base; margins minutely serrulate ; costa slightly scaly. 
Veins rather clase narallel simnle or gsvarinelv forked. Sori oblong, 
brownish, = 
sporangia 8 
Benth. Fl. . 
N.Z. Ferns 
M. salicina 
Zel. ti (185i 
Norru I 
and Waitotar 
level to 1000 
The large 
was occasiona 
Rhizome 
nodose; ro 
titious bud 
circinate, s' 
or less exp 
narrow and 
the petiole 
length. Sp 
embedded j 
slit; spores 
A small 
much uncerta 
at 8-10 and | 
work I have | 
allows me to 
