cuneate, margins much recurved when dry. Sori roundish or oblong, distinct, or ultimately confluent and continuous round the margins of the pinnules. Indusium usually elongated, narrow; margins pale, entire or minutely denticulate.—Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 83, t. 97b; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 137; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 58; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 87, t. 21, f. 1. C. tenuifolia, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 83; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 210; Raoul, Choix, 38; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 23 (for the greater part, not of Swartz). C. tenuifolia var. Sieberi, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 362. C. erecta, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 619.
North and South Islands: From the North Cape southwards, not uncommon in dry rocky places.
Abundant in Australia, and also found in New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines.
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. Pinnæ 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, ¼–½ in. 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.
