¾ in. long or more, more membranous, upper and outer margins deeply lobulate, the lobules incised. Sori numerous, placed in shallow depressions at the top of the teeth or lobules, broader than long, transversely oblong or oblong-reniform.—Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 51, t. 86b; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 21; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 360; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 119; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 724; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 54; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 81, t. 6.
North Island: Auckland—Alluvial banks of the northern Wairoa River, from Tangiteroria to a few miles above Dargaville, T. F. C. Wellington—Manawatu River and its tributaries, from Woodville to below Palmerston North, Colenso! Enys! Field! Hamilton! &c.
Also a native of eastern Australia. Easily recognised by its large size, decompound fronds, and numerous small somewhat rigid pinnules.
5. A. affine, Willd. Sp. Plant, v. 448.—Rhizome long, creeping, stout, clothed with glossy dark chestnut-brown scales. Stipes 4–12 in. long or more, stout, erect, shining-black, rough and scaly at the very base, smooth and polished above. Fronds 6–15 in. long. 3–9 in. broad, ovate-deltoid in outline, bipinnate or tripinnate at the base, pale-green above, usually glaucous beneath, quite glabrous or the secondary rhachises pubescent above. Pinnæ 2–3 pairs with a long terminal one sometimes 6–9 in. long, in large specimens the lowest pair again branched. Pinnules ½–1 in. long, ¼–½ in. deep, petiolate, dimidiate, broadly obliquely-oblong or rhomboidal; lower margin straight, entire, base truncate; upper margin and the obtusely rounded apex deeply crenate-toothed; texture firm, subcoriaceous. Sori numerous, rather large, 6–14 to a pinnule, placed in small notches at the tips of the lobes of the upper and outer margins, not in the sinuses between the lobes. Indusium orbicular-cordate or reniform.—Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 117; Benth. Fl Austral. vii. 724, Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 53; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 80, t. 6, f. 1. A. Cunninghamii, Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 52, t. 86a; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 21; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 360. A. formosum, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 88; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 208; Raoul, Choix, 38 (not of B. Br.). A. pullum. Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxv. (1873) 319.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Abundant in lowland districts throughout.
Also in Australia, according to Bentham (Fl. Austral. vii. 724). Very variable in size, the amount of branching of the frond, and in the size and shape of the pinnules. When growing on exposed rock-faces it is often dwarfed to an inch or two. Most of the Chatham Islands specimens that I have seen are less compound, with larger and coarser narrower pinnules, corresponding, I presume, with the variety Chathamicum of Mr. Field (N.Z. Ferns, 81). A curious form gathered by Mr. Hamilton on limestone crags at Moteo, near Puketapu, Hawke's Bay, has the tips of the pinnæ largely cristate, and the pinnules very irregular in shape. It is the A. Cunninghamii var. heterophyllum of Colenso (Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx. (1888) 218). States with the secondary rhachises somewhat pubescent above, and with rather narrower and more acute pinnules, seem to show a marked approach to A. fulvum.
