Usually small subcoriaceous bright - green ferns. Rizome creeping or short and tufted. Fronds pinnate or 2–3-pinnatifid pinnæ often 1-sided. Veins free, or anastomosing in a few species not found in New Zealand. Sori forminga continuous or more
or less interrupted line within the margin of the frond and parallel to it, placed at the apex of 2 or more veins and uniting them. Indusium apparently double and 2 - valved, opening outwards; upper valve formed of the more or less altered margin of the frond; lower valve thin, membranous, continuous. Sporangia numerous, stalked, bursting transversely; ring vertical, incomplete.
1. |
L. linearis,
Swartz, Syn. Fil. 118, 318, t. 3.—Rhizome slender, creeping, clothed with yellowish - brown scales. Stipes 2–9 in. long, slender, flexuous, wiry, dark red-brown, smooth and shining. Fronds 3–8 in. long, about ½ in. broad, narrow-linear, membranous, pinnate; barren ones shorter and broader than the fertile, often prostrate fertile always erect; rhachis naked, glossy. Pinnæ of the fertile fronds ⅙–⅓ in. long, flabellate or cuneate, sessile or nearly so, not lobed or very indistinctly so, revolute when dry. Sori forming a continuous line along the upper edge. Indusium broad, membranous both valves minutely and irregularly lacini-ate. Pinnæ of the barren fronds ¼–½ in. long or more, deeply lobed or incised.—
A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 85;
A. Cunn. Precur. n. 213;
Raoul, Choix, 38
Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 206
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 19
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 359;
Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 104
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 719
Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 51;
Field, N.Z. Ferns, 77, t. 19, f. 4, 4A. L. trilobata,
Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 345.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands From the North Cape southwards, usually on clay hills or in cold swampy soils, most plentiful to the north of the East Cape, rare and local in the South Island. Sea-level to 2000 ft.
Also found throughout the whole of eastern Australia and Tasmania, in Norfolk Island, and in New Caledonia. Mr. Colenso's
L. trilobata, which appears to be the most abundant state in New Zealand, only differs in the pinnæ of the barren frond being rather more deeply lobed than usual. |
2. |
L. trichomanoides,
Dryand. in Trans. Linn. Soc. iii. (1797) 43, t. 11.—Rhizome creeping, slender, clothed with reddish-brown
scales, Stipes 3–8 in. long, rather rigid, slender, wiry, angled, polished, glabrous or slightly scaly towards the base. Fronds 3–8 in. long, 1½–4 in. broad, oblong-lanceolate or linear-oblong, more rarely ovate-oblong, subcoriaceous, dark-green, bipinnate. Primary pinnæ nearly opposite, 1–3 in. long, lanceolate, erecto-patent, pinnatifid above, pinnate below. Pinnules or segments obovate or rounded-cuneate, entire or more or less toothed or lobed, rarely again pinnatifid. Veins obscure, flabellately branched. Sori forming a continuous intramarginal line round the apex of the lobes.—
A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 85
A. Cunn. Precur. n. 214
Raoul, Choix, 38;
Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 218;
Hook. f. Fl. Nouv. Zel. ii. 19;
Handh. N.Z. Fl. 359;
Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 110
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 720;
Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 52;
Field, N.Z. Ferns, 78, t. 19, f. 1.Adiantum cuneatum,
Forst. Prodr. n. 461.
Var.Lessonii,
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 19.—Fronds simply pinnate or 2-pinnate at the base alone; pinnæ oblong-lanceolate, entire or lobed or pinnatifid.—L. Lessonii,
Bory in Duper, Voy. Cog. 278, t. 37, f. 2;
A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 84;
A. Cunn. Precur. n. 212;
Raoul, Choix, 38;
Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 217.L. discolor,
Col.
North and South Islands From Hokianga southwards to Foveanx Strait, common in the North Island, local on the eastern side of the South Island. Sea-level to 2500 ft.
Also in Australia, Tasmania, and the Fiji Islands. |
3. |
L. viridis,
Col. in Tasmanian Jourm. Nat. Sci.(1845) 14.— Rhizome very short, suberect. Stipites densely tufted at the top of the rhizome, 1–4 in. long, slender, wiry, dark chestnut-brown, angled, smooth and polished, glabrous except a tuft of pale-brown scales at the base. Fronds 6–14 in. long, 1–1½-in. broad, lanceolate, acuminate, pale-green, subcoriaceous, 2–3-pinnatifid; rhachis slender, flexuose, shining, naked. Primary pinnæ alternate, ascending, the lower ones much reduced in size, rhomboid-lanceolate; secondary obversely deltoid, simple or deeply lobed or again flabellately pinnate. Ultimate segments about ⅙ in. long, cuneate or linear-cuneate, truncate. Veins simple or forked. Sori very numerous, at the tips of the segments. Indusium membranous, transversely oblong, from rather broader than long to twice as broad as long; outer valve (tip of the segment) irregularly erose.—
Bak. in Journ. Bot.(1875) 109
Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. x. (1878) 396;
Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 51;
Field, N.Z. Ferns, 79, t. 21, f. 2. L. trichomanoides (in part),
Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 218;
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 19
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 359
(not of Dryand.).L. microphylla,
Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 110 (the New Zealand plant),
not of R.Br.
North Island: Auckland — Great Barrier Island,
Kirk, Winkelmann!Little Barrier Island,
Miss Shakespear!Thames,
Adams!Henderson's Greek,
T. F. C.;Huia Creek,
Kirk; near Mauku,
H. Carse; between Tauranga and Rotorua,
Colenso! East Cape district,
Bishop Williams.
Tara-
naki—Mount Egmont Ranges,
J. M. Brame.Wellington—Upper Wanganui, and from thence to the base of the Tararua Range,
H. C. Field.
South Island: Nelson—Massacre Bay,
Lyall;Torrent Bay,
Kingsley.Westland— Near Hokitika,
W. H. Tipler.Otago—Sounds of the West Coast,
Buchanan,
A very beautiful and distinct species, usually found on dripping rocks by waterfalls, or on the mossy banks of streams. |