North Island: Abundant in dry woods from the North Cape southwards to the Upper Waikato and Taranaki. South Island: Nelson—Massacre Bay, Lyall; West Wanganui, Kingsley; extending along the West Coast as far south as Charlestown, Kirk. Sea-level to 2000 ft.
A very handsome and distinct species, confined to New Zealand, unless a plant lately discovered in the Philippine Islands should prove to be the same.
17. DOODIA, R. Br.
Rhizome short, tufted, suberect. Fronds numerous at the top of the rhizome, erect, harsh and rigid or membranous, pinnate or pinnatifid, sometimes dimorphic. Veins forked, connected by short cross veinlets on which the sori are placed. Sori oblong or slightly curved, in one or more rows parallel to the midrib, and between it and the margin of the pinnæ. Indusium the same shape as the sorus, attached to the cross veinlet, membranous, opening towards the midrib. Sporangia stalked, surrounded by an incomplete vertical ring, bursting transversely.
A small genus of 5 species, found in New Zealand, Australia and Polynesia, and Ceylon.
| Fronds 1–2 ft., harsh, coriaceous, erect; the sterile not obviously differing from the fertile | 1. D. media. |
| Fronds ½–1 ft., submembranous; the sterile shorter and less erect, with broader obtuse pinnæ. Fertile pinnæ narrow-linear, with conspicuous auricled bases | 2. D. caudata. |
1. D. media, R. Br. Prodr. 151.—Rhizome short, stout, sub-erect, clothed with the bases of the old stipites. Stipes 3–8 in. long, more or less clothed with subulate scales towards the base, smooth or scabrous, blackish-brown. Fronds 12–18 in. long, 1½–4 in. broad, lanceolate, acuminate, coriaceous, dark-green, pinnate in the lower half or two-thirds, pinnatifid above; rhachis often pubescent. Pinnæ numerous, spreading; lateral 1–2 in. long, 15–⅓ in. broad, linear or linear-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, spinulose-dentate, the upper ones dilated and confluent at the base, those below the middle free but often dilated or almost auricled at the base, the lower ones gradually reduced in size; terminal pinna often elongated. Sori short, oblong, usually in one series on each side of the midrib, but sometimes portions of a second row are irregularly developed.—Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 74; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 370; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 190; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 70; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 112, t. 20, f. 1. D. aspera, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 76; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 195; Raoul, Choix, 38 (not of R. Br.). D. Kunthiana, Gaud. in Freyc. Voy. Bot. 401, t. 14; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 197; Raoul, Choix, 38.
Var. Milnei, Bak. Syn. Fil. (edit. 2) 482.—Larger; fronds 1–2 ft. long or more, 6–12 in. broad. Pinnæ closely placed, 4–6 m. long, ¼–½ in. broad, narrowed into long acuminate points, sharply dentate-serrate. Sori copious, in 2 rows on each side of the midrib.—D. Milnei, Carr. in Seem. Fl. Viti. 352. D. connexa. Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 369 (not of Kunze).
