| Fronds (with the stipes) 9–24 in., deltoid, almost glabrous, 3-pinnate, pale-green. Pinnules deeply and sharply toothed | 2. H. millefolium. |
| Fronds (with the stipes) Fronds (with the stipes) 6–20 in., lanceolate, almost glabrous, 2-pinnate, brownish-green. Pinnules deeply toothed | 3. H. distans. |
1. H. tenuifolia, Bernh. in Schrad. Neu. Journ. Bot. ii. 34.—Rhizome long, stout, creeping, densely clothed with red-brown linear scales. Stipes 1–2 ft. high or more, strong, erect, brown or yellow-brown, slightly rough with minute points, naked or pubescent, usually scaly towards the base. Fronds 1–3 ft. long, ½–2 ft. broad, ovate-oblong to broadly deltoid, pale-green, membranous or subcoriaceous, 4-pinnatifid; primary and secondary rhachises more or less tomentose with crisped hairs, rarely glabrous. Primary pinnæ 8–20 in. long, 4–10 in. broad, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate; secondary and tertiary lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate. Ultimate divisions linear-oblong, obtuse or acute, crenate-toothed; costa and sometimes the under-surface more or less pubescent. Sori numerous, rounded, placed in the sinuses between the teeth or lobes. Indusium composed of the reflexed scale-like tip of a lobule of the frond, sometimes covering the sorus when young, often very inconspicuous when old.—Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 60, t. 89c and 90a; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 22; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 361; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 129; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 726; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 56; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 84, t. 24, f. 3, and t. 27, f. 4; H. dicksonioides, Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 61. Cheilanthes ambigua. A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 84; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 211; Raoul. Choix, 38. C. arborescens, Swartz, Syn. Fil. 129, t. 336. C. pellucida, Col. in Tasmanian Journ. Nat. Sci. (1845) 13. Lonchites tenuifolia, Forst. Prodr. n. 424.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Abundant throughout. Sea-level to 2000 ft.
Also in Norfolk Island, Australia, the Pacific islands, and Java. A most variable fern; in habit and general appearance often so close to Polypodium punctatum that the suspicion naturally arises that the two species may be forms of one plant, a view which is rendered more probable by the fact that the indusium is sometimes so feebly developed that the technical distinction separating Hypolepis and Polypodium is obliterated. Usually, however, Polypodium punctatum can be distinguished by the sori being further from the margin and by the glandular-viscid rhachis and costæ. Mr. Colenso's Cheilanthes pellucida, which is kept as a distinct variety in the "Species Filicum" (t. 90a), looks different at first sight on account of its stouter habit, broader and more obtuse pinnules, and more copious crisped hairs, but is connected with the type by numerous intermediates.
2. H. millefolium, Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 68, t. 95b.—Rhizome long, slender, creeping, naked or nearly so. Stipes 3–9 in. long, rigid, erect, yellow-brown, glossy, smooth or slightly scabrous, glabrous or sparingly pilose with crisped hairs. Fronds 6–18 in. long.
