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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
14. Pellæa, Link
14. Pellæa, Link.
Rhizome usually creeping. Fronds tufted, or scattered along (the rhizome, simply pinnate in the New Zealand species, 2–3-pinnate and often palmate or pedate in others; texture subcoriaceous or membranous; veins always free but often obscure. Sori marginal, in an early stage distinct and oblong or linear-oblong, decurrent along the tips of the veins, but soon becoming confluent and forming a continuous broad or narrow marginal band. Indusium formed of the modified edge of the frond, continuous, often very narrow, at first involute over the sori, ultimately spreading, often hidden by the ripe sporangia. Sporangia stalked, with an incomplete vertical ring, bursting transversely.
About 60 species are known, found in the temperate and tropical regions of both hemispheres. One of the two New Zealand species extends as far north as India, the other is said to occur in Australia.
Erect. Pinnæ ¾–2 in. long, lanceolate to linear-oblong. 1. P. falcata. Often decumbent. Pinnse ⅓–¾ in. long, oblong to orbicular 2. P. rotundifolia.
| 1. | P. falcata,Fée Gen. Fil. 129.—Rhizome stout, creeping, scaly. Stipes 3–6 in. long, strong, erect, dark red-brown or almost black, more or less hispid with spreading scales. Fronds 12–18 in. long or more, 1½–3 in. broad, linear or linear-oblong, simply pinnate; rhachis densely scaly and bristly. Pinnæ 15–40 on a side, quite entire, alternate, shortly petiolate or the upper sessile, ¾–2 in. long, ¼–½in. broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate to linear-oblong, often slightly falcate, acute or mucronate, truncate or cuneate at the base, the lower ones slightly auriculate on the upper margin near the base texture coriaceous; both surfaces glabrous or nearly so; veins not visible. Sori usually forming a broad continuous marginal band all round the pinnæ. Indusium very narrow, membranous, continuous.—Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 135, t. 111B Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 363; Hook, and Bak. Syn. page 969Fil. 151; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 58; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 88, t. 18, f. 4, Pteris falcata, R. Br. Prodr. 154; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 24; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 729. P. seticaulis, Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 207. Platyloma falcatum, J. Sm.
Kermadec Islands: MacGillivray, T. F. C. North Island: Auckland— In various localities from Whangaroa to the Waikato River, but rare and local. South Island: Nelson—Dun Mountain, Potts; near Nelson, D. Grant; Graham River, T. F. C. Extends to Australia and Tasmania, the Malay Archipelago, and India. All the New Zealand specimens that I have seen have shorter and broader pinnæ than the typical state, and approach P. rotundifolia so closely as to make it probable that the two species are forms of one plant. |
| 2. | P. rotundifolia, Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 136.—Habit of P. falcata, but smaller and more slender, and fronds often decumbent. Rhizome long, rigid, wiry, creeping, clothed with appressed scales. Stipes 3–6 in. long, dark red-brown, densely pubescent and scaly. Fronds 6–14 in. long, ¾–1/12 in. broad, linear, simply pinnate; rhachis bristly and scaly throughout. Pinnae 10–30 on each side, alternate, petiolate or the upper sessile, quite entire, ⅓–¾ in. long, ¼–½ in. broad, variable in shape, oblong or oblong-ovate to orbicular, obtuse or mucronate at the tip, rounded or obliquely truncate at the base, glabrous or nearly so, coriaceous; veins concealed. Sori forming broad marginal lines on both the upper and lower edges of the pinnæ, but not so continuous as in P. falcata. Indusia very numerous, membranous, involute when young, but soon reflexed and often concealed by the sporangia.—Fil. Exot. t. 48; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 363; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 151;
Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 59; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 89, t. 14, f. 2. Pteris rotundifolia, Forst. Prodr. n. 420; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 78; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 198; Raoul, Choix, 38; Hook. Ic. Plant, 422; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 730. Allosurus rotundifolius, Kunze in Linnæa, xxviii. 219. Piatyloma rotundifolium, J. Sm.
North and South Islands, Chatham Islands: From the North Cape to Foveaux Strait, not uncommon in dry woods. Sea-level to 2000 ft. Also in Norfolk Island; and Bentham refers a Queensland plant to the same species. |