North Island: Abundant from the North Cape to the East Cape, from thence rare and local to Cook Strait. South Island: Nelson—Port Hills, Kirk! Var. Milnei.—Kermadec Islands: Abundant, MacGillivray, T, F. C. Sea-level to 1000 ft.
Also in Australia, Norfolk Island, and the Pacific islands as far north as Hawaii. A very variable plant.
2. D. caudata, R. Br. Prodr. 151.—Rhizome short, suberect, emitting numerous black wiry rootlets. Stipes 2–4 in. long, slender, black, smooth or nearly so. Fronds numerous, densely tufted, 3–12 in. long, rarely more, ¾–2 in. broad, lanceolate, acuminate or caudate, usually membranous, pale-green, pinnate almost to the top, more or less dimorphic; sterile usually shorter than the fertile and less erect, often decumbent, sometimes almost flaccid; pinnæ oblong or linear-oblong, obtuse, sharply serrate. Fertile fronds longer, usually harsher and more rigid, erect; pinnæ ½–1½ in. long, ⅛–15 in. broad, narrow-linear, often attenuate, the lower ones usually conspicuously auricled at the base, the uppermost decurrent and confluent, terminal pinna usually very long, caudate. Sori in a single series on each side of the midrib.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 76; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 196; Raoul, Choix, 38; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 37 (excl. syn.); Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 190; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 114, t. 20, f. 4, 4a. D. squarrosa. Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 382.
North Island: From Kaitaia southwards to Cook Strait, but local and often absent from large areas. Sea-level to 2500 ft.
Apparently a common Australian plant, ranging from Cape York to Tasmania. Some of the New Zealand forms approach very close to the preceding species; but usually it can be distinguished by the smaller size, by the sterile fronds being of a different shape and more flaccid than the fertile, and by the narrow fertile pinnæ with conspicuously auricled bases. A small variety found on the Rimutaka Range, Wellington, is said to have scented fronds, and to have been formerly collected by the Maoris for the purpose of mixing with oil to anoint the person; but I have never been able to perceive any fragrance. Perhaps Polypodium pustulatum has been mistaken for it. I have seen no authentic specimens of Colenso's D. squarrosa, and have followed Mr. Baker {Ann. Bot. v. (1891) 221) in referring it to D. caudata.
18. ASPLENIUM, Linn.
Rhizome usually short and thick, more rarely long and creeping. Fronds tufted at the top of the rhizome or scattered, stipitate, pinnate or 2–3-pinnate or decompound, simple and entire in a few species not found in New Zealand. Venation variable, free in the great mass of the species, including those found in New Zealand. Sori linear or oblong, placed upon the veins, more or less oblique with respect to the costa, remote from the margin or close to it when the frond is much divided. Indusium the same shape as the sorus, attached by its side to the vein, straight or rarely curved, flat
