gradually reduced in size to minute auricles, margins crenulate; veins fine, close, forked. Fertile fronds rather shorter than the sterile, pinnate; pinnæ remote, very narrow-linear, 2–3 in. long, apiculate.—Bak. in Ann. Bot. v. (1891) 219. L. acuminata, Bak. Syn. Fil. (edit. 2) 481; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 66. L. attenuata, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 368; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 101 (not of Willd.).
Kermadec Islands: Sunday Island, abundant, McGillivray, T.F.C. North Island: Three Kings Islands, T.F.C. Little Barrier Island, Reischek! T.F.C.
Also in Norfolk Island. It can only be distinguished from L. lanceolata by the greater size, the long acuminate sterile pinnæ, and the much longer fertile pinnæ, and might well be regarded as a variety only. On both the Three Kings Islands and the Little Barrier it appears to gradually merge into the ordinary state of L. lanceolata.
5. L. lanceolata, Spreng. Syst. Veg. iv. 62.—Rhizome short, stout, erect or inclined, rarely produced into a short caudex 3–6 in. high. Stipes 2–6 in. long, firm, erect, dark-brown at the base and clothed with subulate scales, paler and glabrous above. Fronds tufted, forming a crown at the top of the rhizome; the sterile ones 6–18 in. long, 2–4 in. broad, lanceolate, acuminate, gradually narrowed to the base, rather membranous, pale-green or dark-green, quite glabrous, pinnate below, pinnatifid above. Pinnæ numerous, close-set, horizontally spreading or ascending, 1–2 in. long, ¼–½ in. broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, attached by a broad somewhat dilated base, gradually tapering to an obtuse or acute point, slightly falcate, usually sinuate-crenate towards the tip, rarely entire; veins conspicuous, free, forked. Fertile fronds usually shorter than the sterile, 1–2 in. broad, pinnate; pinnæ ¾–1½ in. long, distant, narrow-linear, acute or apiculate.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 180; Raoul, Choix, 37; Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 429; Sp. Fil. iii. 11; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. li. 29; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 367; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 177; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 735; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 66; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 102, t. 11, f. 2, 2a. L. aggregata, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx. (1888) 223; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 103, t. 29, f. 7, 7a. Blechnum lanceolatum, Sturm.
North and South Islands, Chatham Islands, Stewart Island: From the North Cape southwards, abundant by the margins of streams, &c. Sea-level to 2500 ft.
Also in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and the Pacific islands. A variable plant. Large specimens pass into L. Norfolkiana, and smaller ones are sometimes difficult to separate from L. membranacea.
6. L. dura, Moore in Gard. Chron. (1866) 290.—Rhizome stout, erect, clothed with the bases of the old stipites, sometimes lengthened into a short caudex. Stipes 1–2 in. long, clothed at the base with large ovate-lanceolate brownish scales. Fronds
