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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

29. Marattia, Smith

29. Marattia, Smith.

Rhizome large, thick and swollen. Fronds numerous, large, 2–3-pinnate; stipes stout, articulated at the base, and furnished with two adnate auricles. Veins all free. Sori oblong, placed at or near the tip of the veins, close to the margin of the pinnules, each sorus consisting of two parallel rows containing 4–12 sporangia, the sporangia of each row completely united into a boat-shaped mass called a synangium. Synangia coriaceous, the outer face smooth and convex, the inner flat and pierced by the narrow transverse slits of the dehiscent sporangia. Spores globose-tetrahedral.

A small genus of 8–10 species, widely scattered through the tropical regions of both hemispheres and the warmer part of the south temperate zone. The single New Zealand species is found in Australia and Polynesia, South Africa, Malaya, Philippines, and India.

1.M. fraxinea, Smith, Ic. Ined. t. 48.—Rhizome a large irregularly shaped tuberous mass. Stipes stout, 1–2 ft. long or more, brownish-green, jointed at the base and furnished with large clasping auricles which are persistent on the rhizome. Fronds large, in fully grown specimens 6–12 ft. long, 2–5 ft. broad, ovate-deltoid, dark-green and glossy, coriaceous, 2-pinnate or rarely 3-pinnate. Primary pinnæ 9 in. to 3 ft. long, often more than l ft. broad; pinnules shortly stalked, 3–6 in. long, ½–1 in. broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, obliquely cuneate or rounded at the base; margins minutely serrulate; costa slightly scaly. Veins rather close, parallel, simple or sparingly forked. Sori oblong, brownish, 1/1;0–⅛ in. long, on the veins just within the margin of the pinnules; sporangia 8–12 to each synangium.—Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 440; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 695; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 97; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 153, t. 25, f. 5. M. salicina, Smith in Rees Cyclop. 89; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 49; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 386.

North Island: Lowland forests from Mongonui southwards to Cape Egmont and Waitotara, not common, usually in rich damp soils. Para; Parareka. Sea-level to 1000 ft.

The large starchy rhizome was formerly eaten by the Maoris, and hence the plane was occasionally cultivated near their villages. It is now fast becoming rare.