or less modified tooth or lobule of the frond, reflexed over the sorus and in the young state more or less concealing it. Sporangia stalked, bursting transversely, girt by an incomplete vertical ring.
A genus of about 60 species, found in most tropical and temperate regions. It is only separated from Nothochlæna by the modified tooth or lobule of the frond reflexed over the sorus, a character which is sometimes so obscure that it is difficult to separate the two genera. The two New Zealand species are both widely distributed.
| Fronds broad, deltoid | 1. C. tenuifolia. |
| Fronds linear-oblong or linear | 2. C. Sieberi. |
1. C. tenuifolia, Swartz, Syn. Fil. 129, 332.—Rhizome very short, suberect, clothed with silky scales. Stipes 3–9 in. long, tufted, wiry, erect, dark red-brown, smooth and polished, glabrous or slightly scaly when young. Fronds 4–10 in. long, 2–4 in. broad, deltoid or ovate-deltoid, submembranous, yellowish-green, 3-pinnatifid; rhachis smooth, polished, glabrous or nearly so. Primary pinnæ 6–12 on each side, opposite or nearly so, ascending or spreading; the lowest pair sometimes 2½ in. long, deltoid; the upper smaller and narrower. Pinnules oblong or elliptic-oblong, deeply pinnatifid; ultimate segments entire or irregularly lobed or crenate; surfaces glabrous. Sori on the margins of the lobes, generally confluent and continuous all round the edge of the pinnules. Indusium narrow, elongated, usually crenate or denticulated, often transversely wrinkled.—Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 82, t. 87c; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 138; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 726; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. vi. (1874) 248; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 57; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 86, t. 21, f. 2, 3. C. Kirkii, Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 360 (not of Hook.). C. venosa. Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxv. (1893) 321. Pteris alpina. Field, N.Z. Ferns, 97, t. 28, f. 2.
North Island: Auckland—Mount Maunganui, near Tauranga, Mrs. Hetley! Hawke's Bay—Mohaka, E. Craig! Petane, A. Hamilton! in various localities, Colenso! Wellington—Near Wanganui, H. C. Field. South Island: Canterbury—Banks Peninsula, Lyall, Armstrong, Kirk! Otago—Mountains near Lake Wakatipu, Buchanan; Lake Wanaka, Mrs. Mason! Sea-level to 2500 ft.
Extends northwards through Australia to the Malay Archipelago, India, and China. The typical state is easily distinguished from the following species by the broad deltoid frond, but intermediates are occasionally seen.
2. C. Sieberi, Kunze in Pl. Preiss. ii. 112.—Rhizome short, stout, creeping, clothed with chestnut-brown scales. Stipes 3–9 in. long, densely tufted, erect, wiry, dark chestnut-brown, polished, glabrous or with a few fibrillose scales. Fronds 3–9 in. long, ¾–1½ in. broad, linear-oblong or linear, erect, rigid, glabrous, 2–3-pinnatifid; rhachis smooth, glossy. Primary pinnæ 3–15 opposite pairs, ascending, the lower rather remote, ¾–1½ in. long, ovate-deltoid. Pinnules oblong, deeply pinnatifid; segments entire or
