Tmesipteris. | LYCOPODIACEAE. 105 
midrib usually produced into a mucro of variable length, coriaceous, dark 
dull-green. Fertile leaves rather shorter than the foliage-leaves and 
replacing them at intervals down the stem, on short petioles sometimes 
4 in. long, deeply 2-partite, the divisions usually similar to the foliage-leaves 
but smaller. Synangia sessile or very shortly stalked, }-Lin. long, parallel 
to the petiole, brown, coriaceous.—Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 680 ; 
Bak. Fern Alves (1887) 30; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 1041. 
I. Forsteri Hndl. Prodr. Fl. Norfolk. (1833) 6; A. Cunn. Precur. (1836) 
n. 151; Raow Choix (1846) 37; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii (1855) 51; Handb. 
N.Z. Fl. (1864) 391; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 108. T. truncata Desv. 
in Ann. Soc, Linn. Par. vi, 192; Hook. Gen, Fil. (1842) t. 86. 
KermMADEC I[stanps, NortH anp Sourn Istanps, CHaTHam IsLANDS, STEWART 
IstanD, AUCKLAND IsLANDS: Common in forests throughout, particularly on the 
western sides of the islands, usually epiphytic on the stems of tree-ferns, more rarely 
‘on rocks. Sea-level to 3000 ft. 
For a discussion on the morphology and systematic position of this plant see 
Professor Bower’s memoir “On the Morphology of the Spore-producing Members ”’ 
(Trans: Roy. Soc. 1894, p. 541-48) and the more recently published paper by Pro- 
fessor Thomas entitled ‘‘ The Affinity of T’mesipteris with the Sphenophyllales”” (Proc. 
Roy. Soc. vol. lxix, p. 348-50). Reference should also be made to Mr. Holloway’s 
paper on “ The Prothallus and Young Plant of 7'mesipteris” (Trans. N.Z. Inst. vol. 1 
(1918) 1.) 
4, PSILOTUM Swartz. 
Rhizome short, creeping, branched; true roots wanting. Stem erect 
or pendulous, simple below, repeatedly dichotomously branched above : 
branches angled or flat. Leaves very minute, scale-like, laxly placed, 
trifarious or distichous. Sporangia (or synangia), coriaceous, almost elobular, 
usually 3-lobed and 3-celled, rarely 2- or 4-celled, in the axil or attached 
below the fork of a minute bifid scale-like fertile leaf or sporophyll, which 
is either sessile or raised on a short petiole. Spores minute, oblong, curved. 
A small genus of two species, widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical 
regions of both hemispheres. The New Zealand species has the range of the genus. 
1. P. triquetrum Swartz Syn. Fil. (1806) 117.—Stems 4-18 in. long, 
erect or pendulous when growing on trees, stout or slender, simple below, 
many times dichotomously branched in the upper part; branchlets trique- 
trous, the ultimate ones 34-s,in. diam. Leaves placed on the angles of 
the stems and branches, distant, minute, scale-like, ovate-subulate, 4-2 in. 
long. Fertile leaves bifid, rather smaller than the foliage-leaves, sessile 
or shortly petiolate. Synangia #,-A,in. diam., globose or broader than 
long.—Hook. Gen. Fal. (1843) t. 87; Fil. Exot. (1857-59) t. 63; Hook. f. 
Fl. Nov, Zel. ii (1855) 56; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 391; Benth. Fl. Austral. 
vu (1878) 681; Bak. Fern Allies (1887) 80; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns (1882) 108 ; 
Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 1041. P. heterocarpum Col. in Trans. N.Z. 
Inst. xx (1888) 237. 
KeERMADEC Istanps: Not uncommon, 7. F. C., W. R. B. Oliver! Norru Istanp : 
Rangaunu Harbour, R. H. Matthews! Rangitoto Island, Colenso! and many others ; 
Auckland Isthmus, very rare, 7. F.C.; Motuhora Island (Bay of Plenty), Joliffe ; 
near Maketu, 7’. Kirk; soil heated by hot springs at Orakeikorako, 7’. Kirk! Waiirakei,s 
C. J. Norton! and Tokaanu, 7. F. O. ; Karangahake Cliffs, Taupo, H. Hill / Sea-level 
to 1800 ft. 
In all tropical and subtropical regions as far north as Japan and Florida. 
A 
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