brown, darker at the base. Fronds 1–3 ft. long or more, 6–24 in. broad, ovate or ovate-deltoid, acuminate, bright-green, herbaceous, quite glabrous, 2–4-pinnate; rhachis smooth, naked. Primary pinnæ 6–12 pairs, subopposite; the lowest 6–15 in. long, ovate-lanceolate or ovate-deltoid, usually bipinnate, sometimes tripinnate; upper gradually becoming shorter and narrower and less compound; the uppermost linear, pinnate or pinnatifid. Ultimate segments ½–1½ in. long, 110–16 broad, linear or linear-oblong, obtuse, sessile and decurrent at the base; fertile usually entire or slightly crenate at the tips; barren generally broader and with the margins crenate throughout; veins free, forked. Sori copious, usually continuous on both the upper and lower edges of the segments, rarely interrupted.—Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 174, t. 120b; Hook. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 25; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 364; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 161; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 731; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 60; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 90, t. 28, f. 2. P. affinis, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 81; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 201; Raoul, Choix, 38. P. tenuis, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 205. P. Kingiana, Endl. Prodr. Fl. Insl. Norfolk. 13.
Kermadec Islands, North Island: Abundant, ascending to 2500 ft. South Island: In various localities in Nelson and Marlborough, but not common; recorded from Banks Peninsula by Armstrong.
Also in Australia and Tasmania, Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, and Fiji. Very variable in the size and shape of the ultimate segments. P. Kingiana (var. Kingiana, Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 161) sometimes has them over 1½ in. long and more than ¼ in. broad; while in P. tenuis, A. Cunn., they are very narrow, the sori occupying the whole under-surface except the costa.
4. P. comans, Forst. Prodr. n. 419.—Rhizome short, stout, sub-erect. Stipes 1–2 ft. long or more, erect, yellow-brown, polished, naked or clothed at the base with dark-brown scales. Fronds 1–4 ft. long, ½–3 ft. broad, broadly deltoid, acuminate, membranous, dark-green, quite glabrous, 2-pinnate or rarely 3-pinnate at the base; rhachis smooth, polished. Lower pinnæ in large specimens nearly 2 ft. long by 1 ft. broad and bipinnate, but usually from 9–18 in. and pinnate, shortly stalked; upper pinnæ gradually becoming shorter and narrower, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, regularly pinnatifid; terminal pinna 6–9 in. long, cut down almost to the rhachis. Ultimate segments variable in size and shape, 1–3 in. long, ¼–½ in. broad, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate to linear-oblong, acute or obtuse, straight or falcate, the fertile ones serrate at the tips or sinuate-serrate or sinuate-lobed, sums between the segments acute. Veins anastomosing copiously. Sori continuous, but not reaching the apex of the segments.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 79; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 199; Raoul, Choix, 38; Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 219; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 26; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 171; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 733; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 62; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 95, t. 24, f. 1. P. Endlicheriana, Aghard Sp. Pterid. 66; Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 973; Sp. Fil. ii. 218; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 364. Litobrochia comans, Presl. Tent. Pteridogr. 66.
