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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
12.Hypolepis,Bernh
12.Hypolepis,Bernh.
Rhizome usually wide-creeping. Fronds large, 2–3-pinnate or decompound, often glandular or tomentose texture membranous or herbaceous. Veins forked, free, never anastomosing. Sori small, globose, distinct, placed in the sinuses of the ultimate divisions of the frond. Indusium orbicular or reniform, membranous, composed of the modified margin of the frond, reflexed over the sorus and more or less covering it. Sporangia stalked, bursting transversely, with an incomplete vertical ring.
Species 12, confined to the tropics and the south temperate zone. Of the three species found in New Zealand, two are endemic, the remaining one extends to Australia, Polynesia, and the Malay Archipelago. The genus only differs from Polypodium(as defined in the "Synopsis Filicum") by the sori being partly covered by an incurved lobule of the frond.
Fronds (with the stipes) 2–5 ft., deltoid, tomentose, 4-pinnate. Pinnules crenate-toothed 1. H. tenuifolia. page 965 Fronds (with the stipes) 9–24 in., deltoid, almost glabrous, 3-pinnate, pale - green. Pinnulesdeeply and sharply toothed 2, H. millefolium. Fronds (with the stipes)6–20 in., lanceolate, almost glabrous, 2 - pinnate, brownish - green. Pinnulesdeeply toothed 3. H. distans.
| 1. | H. tenuifolia,Bernh. in Schrad. Neu. Journ. Bot. ii. 34.— Rhizome long, stout, creeping, densely clothed with red-brown linear scales. Stipes 1–2 ft. high or more, strong, erect, brown or yellow-brown, slightly rough with minute points, naked or pubes cent, usually scaly towards the base. Fronds 1–3 ft, long, ½–2 ft. broad, ovate-oblong to broadly deltoid, pale-green, membranous or subcoriaceous, 4-pinnatifid; primary and secondary rhachises more or less tomentose with crisped hairs, rarely glabrous. Primary pinnæ 8–20 in. long, 4–10 in. broad, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate secondary and tertiary lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate. Ultimate divisions linear-oblong, obtuse or acute, crenate-toothed; costa and sometimes the under-surface more or less pubescent. Sori numerous, rounded, placed in the sinuses between the teeth or lobes. Indusium composed of the reflexed scale-like tip of a lobule of the frond, sometimes covering the sorus when young, often very inconspicuous when old.—Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 60, t. 89C and 90A; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 22; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 361; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 129 Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 726 Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 56; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 84, t. 24, f. 3, and t. 27, f. 4 H. dicksonioides, Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 61. Cheilanthes ambigua, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 84; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 211; Raoul, Choix, 38. C. arborescens, Swartz, Syn. Fil. 129, t. 336. C. pellucida, Col. in Tasmanian Joum. Nat. Sci.(1845) 13. Lonchites tenuifolia, Forst. Prodr. n. 424.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands Abundant throughout. Sea-level to 2000 ft. Also in Norfolk Island, Australia, the Pacific islands, and Java. A most variable fern in habit and general appearance often so close to Polypodium punctatum that the suspicion naturally arises that the two species may be forms of one plant, a view which is rendered more probable by the fact that the indusium is sometimes so feebly developed that the technical distinction separating Hypolepis and Polypodium is obliterated. Usually, however, Polypodium punctatum can be distinguished by the sori being further from the margin and by the glandular-viscid rhachis and costse. Mr. Colenso's Cheilanthes pel-lucida, which is kept as a distinct variety in the "Species Filicum" (t. 90A), looks different at first sight on account of its stouter habit, broader and more obtuse pinnules, and more copious crisped hairs, but is connected with the type by numerous intermediates. |
| 2. |
H. millefolium,Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 68, t. 95B.—Rhizome long, slender, creeping, naked or nearly so. Stipes 3–9 in. long, rigid, erect, yellow-brown, glossy, smooth or slightly scabrous, glabrous or sparingly pilose with crisped hairs. Fronds 6–18 in. long, page 9663–9 in. broad, broadly ovate or deltoid to ovate-lanceolate, pale-green when fresh, firm or almost rigid, 4-pinnatifid rhachis and costæ more or less clothed with scattered crisped hairs. Primary and secondary pinnæ ovate-lanceolate, ascending; tertiary ⅕–⅓ in. long, ovate or oblong, cut down almost to the rhachis into several entire or sharply-toothed lobes; under-surface glabrous or slightly hairy. Sori numerous, small, roundish, placed under a small lobule in the sinuses of the pinnules. Indusium composed of the reflexed and almost unaltered tip of the lobule.— Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 23 Handb. N.Z. Fl. 361; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 130; Thorns. N.Z. Ferns, 56 Field, N.Z. Ferns, 85, t. 3, f. 2. North Island East Cape district, Bishop Williams base of Ruapehu,. H. C. Field tMount Egmont, Buchanan, H. C. Field, T. F. C.;Ruahine Mountains, Colensn! Field;Manawatu Gorge, A. Hamilton;Tararua Mountains, W. Townson.South Island Not uncommon in mountain districts throughout. Campbell Island, Antipodes Island, Kirk.Usually from 1500 to 4000 ft., but descends almost to sea-level in the south of Otago. Well distinguished from any of the forms of H. tenuifolia by the finely and deeply cut pinnules. |
| 3. | H. distans,Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 70, t. 95c.—Rhizome long, rigid, branched, clothed with red-brown linear scales. Stipes 3–9 in. long, slender, flexuous, fragile, red-brown, glossy, naked, minutely muri-cate. Fronds 6–15 in. long, 3–6 in. broad, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, rigid, brownish-green or reddish-brown, 2-pinnate; rhachis slender, red-brown, glabrous or nearly so, scabrous like the stipes. Primary pinnæ 2–3 in. long, about ½ in. broad, opposite or nearly so, distant, spreading at right angles, lanceolate; secondary (pinnules) ¼ in. long, sessile, lanceolate, rigid, deeply pinnatifid. Ultimate segments ovate, spreading, toothed or incised. Sori 2–8 to a pinnule, placed in the lower sinuses. Indusium composed of the inflexed tip of a lobule, small, membranous.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 23; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 362; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 129 Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 56 Field, N.Z. Ferns, 85, t. 28, f. 6.
North and South Islands, Chatham Islands From the North Cape to the south of Otago, not common, usually at low elevations. Small and slender forms of Polypodium punctatum are easily mistaken for this but in its usual state it, is a smaller and more slender plant, with more distant pinnæ, and the frond is never densely hairy or viscid-pubescent. It is confined to New Zealand. |