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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
27. Lygodium, Swartz
27. Lygodium, Swartz.
Climbing ferns, with long twining stems, often ascending trees to a considerable height. Primary Pinnæ distant on the common rhachis or stem, and inserted on it by a short and often almost obsolete petiole, dichotomously divided; the secondary divisions divaricate, stalked, usually again dichotomous, or in species not found in New Zealand pinnately divided. Sterile pinnules ovate to oblong-lanceolate, ligulate; fertile usually much contracted and frequently copiously divided. Sporangia ovoid, obliquely sessile, splitting vertically, crowned by a complete transverse ring, arranged in two rows on the under-surface of the contracted fertile pinnules, or forming short spikes projecting from the margins of the leafy pinnules, each sporangium in the axil of a large scale-like indusium.
A very distinct genus of about 20 species, widely distributed in the tropics of both hemispheres. The single New Zealand species is endemic.
| 1. | L. articulatum, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 96, t. 15.—Rhizome slender, creeping, clothed with glossy chestnut - brown linear scales. Stipites very numerous, long, slender, climbing, reaching the tops of tall forest-trees, branched, wiry, often intertwined and forming almost impenetrable screens, quite smooth and glabrous. Primary Pinnæ dichotomously palmate-partite; primary petiole short, ⅙–½ in. long; two secondary petioles widely diverging, 1 in. or more long, again twice forked; pinnules 2–4 in. long, ⅓–½ in. broad, jointed at the base, ligulate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or subacute, thinly coriaceous, often glaucous beneath. Veins free. Fertile pinnæ many times dichotomous, the ultimate pinnules small, much contracted, cuneate or flabellate, deeply lobed; the lobes ending in closely placed short spikelets, each with 8–12 sporangia on the under-surface.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 167; Raoul, Choix, 37; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 47; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 385; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 437; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 96; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 152, t. 22, f. 4. L. gracilescens, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 620.
North Island: Auckland — In woods from the North Cape to the Bay of Plenty and Kawhia, abundant. Mange-mange. Sea-level to 2500 ft. The tough and wiry twining stems were formerly twisted into ropes by the Maoris and used for securing the thatch on the roofs of their houses; and they were also employed for making eel-traps. page 1026Probably the most beautiful fern in New Zealand. It is closely allied to he preceding, and is connected with it by intermediate forms. Usually, however, it is readily distinguished by the larger and narrower frond, which tapers very gradually to the base, and by the closer and denser pinnules, which overlap considerably, the segments often turning up towards the upper side of the frond. |