Fil. 151; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 58; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 88, t. 18, f. 4, Pteris falcata, R. Br. Prodr. 154; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 24; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 729. P. seticaulis. Hook. Ic Plant, t. 207. Platyloma falcatum, J. Sm.
Kermadec Islands: MacGillivray, T. F. C. North Island: Auckland—In various localities from Whangaroa to the Waikato River, but rare and local. South Island: Nelson—Dun Mountain, Potts; near Nelson, D. Grant; Graham River, T. F. C.
Extends to Australia and Tasmania, the Malay Archipelago, and India. All the New Zealand specimens that I have seen have shorter and broader pinnæ than the typical state, and approach P. rotundifolia so closely as to make it probable that the two species are forms of one plant.
2. P. rotundifolia, Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 136.—Habit of P. falcata, but smaller and more slender, and fronds often decumbent. Rhizome long, rigid, wiry, creeping, clothed with appressed scales. Stipes 3–6 in. long, dark red-brown, densely pubescent and scaly. Fronds 6–14 in. long, ¾–1½ in. broad, linear, simply pinnate; rhachis bristly and scaly throughout. Pinnæ 10–30 on each side, alternate, petiolate or the upper sessile, quite entire, ⅓–¾ in. long, ¼–½ in. broad, variable in shape, oblong or oblong-ovate to orbicular, obtuse or mucronate at the tip, rounded or obliquely truncate at the base, glabrous or nearly so, coriaceous; veins concealed. Sori forming broad marginal lines on both the upper and lower edges of the pinnæ, but not so continuous as in P. falcata. Indusia very numerous, membranous, involute when young, but soon reflexed and often concealed by the sporangia.—Fil. Exot. t. 48; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 363; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 151; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 59; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 89, t. 14, f. 2. Pteris rotundifolia, Forst. Prodr. n. 420; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 78; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 198; Raoul, Choix, 38; Hook. Ic. Plant, 422; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 730. Allosurus rotundifolius, Kunze in Linnæa, xxviii. 219. Platyloma rotundifolium, J. Sm.
North and South Islands, Chatham Islands: From the North Cape to Foveaux Strait, not uncommon in dry woods. Sea-level to 2000 ft.
Also in Norfolk Island; and Bentham refers a Queensland plant to the same species.
15. PTERIS, Linn.
Rhizome usually creeping. Fronds of very various habit, generally compound, often of large size. Veins free or more or less anastomosing. Sori marginal, linear, continuous, placed on a slender connecting-vein (receptacle) running along the edge of the frond and joining the tips of the transverse veinlets. Indusium long, narrow, continuous, composed of the more or less modified and membranous margin of the frond, at first involute over the sori, at length usually spreading and exposing the sporangia. Sporangia stalked, bursting transversely, girt by an incomplete vertical ring.
