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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

21. Nephrolepis, Schott

21. Nephrolepis, Schott.

Rhizome short and indistinct, or long and creeping, sometimes emitting long wiry creeping and rooting stolons, from which new plants originate. Fronds long and narrow, coriaceous or submembranous, pinnate; pinnæ jointed upon the rhachis, often deciduous, entire or crenate-serrate, upper surface frequently marked with white cretaceous dots. Veins free. Sori roundish, dorsal, placed on the tip of the upper branch of a vein, usually close to the margin. Indusium cordate or reniform or almost lunate, attached by a broad base. Sporangia stalked, surrounded by an incomplete vertical ring, bursting transversely.

A small genus of 7 or 8 species, widely distributed in the tropical regions of both hemispheres. The two New Zealand species have the range of the genus.

Pinnæ ½-l in. long, oblong or linear-oblong, obliquely cordate at the base 1. N. cordifolia.
Pinnæ 1 ½–3 in. long, oblong-lanceolate, usually obliquely truncate at the base 2. IV. exaltata.
1.N. cordifolia, Presl; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 300. — Rhizome shore, suberect or oblique, emitting numerous long and wiry scaly stolons, which root here and there and produce new plants, page 1007sometimes bearing small scaly tubers. Stipes short, 1–4 in. long, red-brown, glossy, more or less clothed with deciduous linear scales. Fronds numerous, tufted, 1–3 ft. long, 1 ½–2 in. broad, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, pale-green, membranous, pinnate; rhachis usually shaggy with linear flexuose scales. Pinnæ very numerous, close-set, often imbricated, horizontal, ½-l in. long, ¼–½ in. broad, oblong or linear-oblong, obtuse or subacute, cordate at the base, the upper edge distinctly auricled, the lower shorter and rounded; margins crenate-toothed; the lower pinnge shorter and broader and sterile. Sori in two rows on the pinnæ, rather nearer the margin than the midrib. Indusium reniform, firm, membranous.—Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 85; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 134, t. 20, f. 3. N. tuberosa, Frest; Hooh. Sp. Fit. iv. 151; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 379. N. flexuosa, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx. (1888) 231. Aspidium cordifolium, Swartz, Syn. Fil. 45; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 754.

North Island: Auckland—Thermal-springs district, in. localities heated by warm water; Otumakokori Stream (near Waiotapu), Captain 6. Mair! Kirk! T. F. C.; Wairakei, Karapiti, and other localities at Taupo, Hochstetter, G. J. Norton! T. F. C.

An abundant tropical fern, extending northwards to Japan and southwards to New Zealand.

2.N. exaltata, Schott; Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 152.—Rhizome short, indistinct, emitting numerous long wiry creeping stolons. Stipes 3–9 in. long, stout, erect, deciduously scaly. Fronds numerous, 1–3 ft. long, 4–5 in. broad, oblong-lanceolate, rather coriaceous, pinnate; rhachis and costæ and sometimes the under-surface of the Pinnæ more or less scaly-tomentose or woolly. Pinnæ numerous, close-set, horizontally spreading, 1 ½–3 in. long, ⅓–⅔ in. broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, broadly obliquely truncate or subcordate at the base, the upper edge slightly auricled, the lower rounded; margins crenate-serrate. Sori close to the margin, numerous, rather small. Indusium firm, almost coriaceous, distinctly reniform.—Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 301; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx. (1888) 178. Aspidium exaltatum, Swartz, Syn. Fil. 45; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 754.

Kermadec Islands: Sunday Island, sandy flats in Denham Bay, not seem elsewhere, T. F. C.

An abundant tropical fern all round the world.