numerous, tufted, forming a crown at the top of the rhizome; sterile 1–2½ ft. long, 1½–4 in. broad, lanceolate, acute or acuminate, usually broadest above the middle, very gradually narrowed to the base, dark-green, fleshy or almost coriaceous, pinnatifid above, pinnate below. Pinnæ numerous, close-set, often overlapping, the largest ¾–2½ in. long, ¼–½ in. broad, variable in shape, linear-oblong to lanceolate, obtuse or acute, often falcate, attached by a broad base, the upper narrower and more acute, lowermost dwarfed to rounded auricles; margins entire, slightly thickened. Veins free, forked. Fertile fronds shorter and narrower than the sterile, 1–2½ in. broad; pinnæ numerous, close, linear-oblong, rigid, obtuse. Sori very copious, covering the whole under-surface.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 748; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 177; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 66; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 104, t. 10, f. 4, 4a. L. rigida, J. Sm. Ferns, Brit, and For. 290.
South Island: Banks Peninsula, Armstrong. Eastern and southern coasts of Otago, not uncommon, Petrie! Thomson, Kirk! West Coast sounds, J. D. Enys! Stewart Island and The Snares: Kirk! Chatham Islands: Abundant, Chudleigh! Buchanan! Miss Seddon! Auckland and Campbell Islands, Antipodes Island: Kirk!
A purely littoral plant, never found far from the influence of sea-spray. Easily recognised by the fleshy or coriaceous habit, the usually obtuse and entire sterile pinnæ, and by the close-set broad and rigid fertile pinnæ.
7. L. Banksii, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 31, t. 76.—Rhizome short, stout, woody, erect or inclined, clothed with the old stipites at the top, and with matted fibres below. Stipes short, stout, dark-coloured, furnished at the base with numerous ovate-lanceolate chaffy scales. Fronds numerous; sterile 4–12 in. high, rarely more, ½–1 in. broad, linear-lanceolate, narrowed to both ends, rather coriaceous, dark-green, sometimes with a glaucous tinge, pinnatifid above, pinnate below. Pinnæ numerous, close-set, adnate by a broad base, ⅓–½ in. long, rarely more, about ¼ in. broad, broadly oblong or almost semi-orbicular, obtuse, quite entire; lower pinnæ much reduced, sometimes forming a sinuated wing down to the base of the stipes. Fertile fronds usually shorter than the sterile, pinnate throughout; pinnæ shorter and narrower, more distant, straight or curved. Sori copious, covering the whole under-surface.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 368; Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 17; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 178; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 67; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 105, t. 26, f. 2, 2a. Blechnum Banksii, Mettenius.
