13. L. membranacea, Col. ex Hook. Sp. Fl. iii. 34, t. 145.—Rhizome short, stout, suberect, clothed with the bases of the old stipites mixed with a few subulate scales. Stipes very short, scaly at the base. Fronds tufted at the top of the rhizome, the sterile ones 3–10 in. long, ¾–1½ in. broad, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, broadest above the middle, gradually narrowed to the base, rather membranous, pale-green, quite glabrous, pinnate; rhachis smooth, naked. Pinnæ numerous, spreading or erecto-patent, the longest ½–¾ in. long, about ¼ in. broad, ovate-oblong or oblong, obtuse, broadly adnate at the base but not dilated nor decurrent, coarsely dentate-serrate, the lower quite distinct at the base, gradually becoming smaller and eventually reduced to mere rounded auricles, the uppermost more or less confluent. Fertile fronds usually longer than the sterile and with longer stipites, pinnate pinnæ distant, ⅙–½ in. long, linear, apiculate.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 366; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 181; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 69; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 111, t. 5, f. 6, 6a. L. oligoneuron. Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 346. L. intermedia, Col. l.c. xix. (1887) 274; L. pygmgæa, Col. l.c. xxv. (1893) 322. Blechnum membranaceum, Mett.
North Island: Shaded places by the banks of streams, not uncommon throughout. South Island: In various localities along the east coast from Nelson to Otago, but apparently rare and local. Sea-level to 2000 ft.
Large forms of this, with longer and narrower pinnæ rather more closely placed, are difficult to distinguish from L. lanceolata, if, indeed, the two species do not pass directly into one another. In its usual state, however, it is a much smaller plant, with shorter and broader obtuse pinnæ, distinctly separated from one another, and not dilated at the base or decurrent as in lanceolata. I have seen no specimens from Canterbury or Otago.
14. L. Fraseri, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 185.—Rhizome erect, clothed with the bases of the old stipites and with a dense tuft of dark chestnut-brown scales at the tip, often elongated into a slender caudex 6–24 in. high or more, resembling the trunk of a miniature tree-fern. Stipes 3–9 in. high, scaly towards the base. Fronds forming a spreading crown at the top of the caudex, 9–18 in. long, 3–6in. broad, ovate or ovate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, quite glabrous, almost membranous or sub-coriaceous, bipinnate; rhachis with a narrow interrupted wing furnished with numerous triangular lobes. Pinnæ 2–3 in. long, ⅓–⅔ in. broad, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, cut down almost to the rhachis. Pinnules numerous, close-set, ¼–⅓ in. long, linear-oblong, somewhat falcate, acute or apiculate, entire or serrate. Veins indistinct, simple or forked. Fertile fronds similar to the sterile, but rather smaller and with narrower pinnules. Sori covering the whole under-surface.—Raoul, Choix, 37; Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 185; Sp. Fil. iii. 40; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 31; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 369; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 182; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 70; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 111, t. 24, f. 4, 4a. Blechnum Fraseri, Metten.
