Kermadec Islands: Most abundant, McGillivray, T. F. C. North Island: From the Three Kings Islands and the North Cape southwards to the Bay of Plenty, usually in shaded places near the sea, plentiful on the outlying islands, rare and local on the mainland.
This is often confounded by fern-collectors with large states of P. macilenta var. pendula, but is an altogether different plant, with a coarser and stouter habit of growth, much-broader less-divided fronds, and usually long and narrow segments, with the venation more copiously anastomosing. It is also found in Australia, Tasmania, and the Pacific islands.
5. P. macilenta, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 82, t. 11.—Rhizome very short, suberect, clothed with the bases of the old stipites. Stipes 6–12 in. long, pale yellow-brown, becoming darker towards the base, smooth or slightly scaly below. Fronds 1–3 ft. long, 9–18 in. broad, broadly ovate or deltoid, membranous, flaccid, pale-green and glistening, quite glabrous, 2–3-pinnate; rhachis smooth, stramineous. Primary pinnæ numerous, distant, the lower ones 6–12 in. long, the upper gradually shorter; terminal pinna 1–3 in. long, acuminate, deeply pinnatifid. Secondary pinnæ stalked, those on the lower branches again pinnate, on the upper pinnatifid. Pinnules 1–2 in. long, scattered, often remote, stalked, ovate or deltoid, cuneate at the base, pinnatifid, the terminal ones adnate and decurrent. Ultimate segments oblong or ovate, deeply and coarsely toothed or incised at the apex. Veins anastomosing along the costa, free elsewhere. Sori in the notches between the segments, short, not nearly reaching the tips of the segments.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 202; Raoul, Choix, 38; Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 219; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 26; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 364; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 171; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 61; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 94, t. 7, f. 1. Litobrochia macilenta, Brack. Fil. U.S. Expl. Exped. 106.
Var. pendula.—Not so finely divided. Terminal pinna larger, 3–5 in. long, often caudate. Pinnules larger, 2–2½ in. long, ovate, acuminate; segments longer and narrower.—P. pendula, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx. (1888) 218.
North Island: Not uncommon throughout in dry woods. South Island: Nelson—Near Nelson, T. F. C; Takaka, Kingsley. Marlborough—Buchanan. Also said to occur on Banks Peninsula and near Greymouth, but I have seen no specimens.
6. P. incisa, Thunb. Fl. Cap. 733.—Rhizome long, creeping, rather slender, smooth, producing numerous scattered fronds. Stipes 1–3 ft. high or more, stout, erect, smooth and glossy, yellow-brown or red-brown when mature, often glaucous when young, naked or slightly scabrous at the base. Fronds variable in size, 2–4 ft. long, broadly deltoid or ovate-deltoid to ovate-lanceolate, membranous when young, firm in age, quite smooth and glabrous, glaucous-green, 2–3-pinnate; rhachis pale chestnut-brown, smooth and polished. Primary pinnæ large, 6–12 in. long or more, ovate-lanceolate, opposite or nearly so, rather distant, sessile, the opposite pairs often almost connate at the base, 2-pinnatifid or the uppermost
