scales. Stipes 3–8 in. long, rather rigid, slender, wiry, angled, polished, glabrous or slightly scaly towards the base. Fronds 3–8 in. long, 1½–4 in. broad, oblong-lanceolate or linear-oblong, more rarely ovate-oblong, subcoriaceous, dark-green, bipinnate. Primary pinnæ nearly opposite, 1–3 in. long, lanceolate, erectopatent, pinnatifid above, pinnate below. Pinnules or segments obovate or rounded-cuneate, entire or more or less toothed or lobed, rarely again pinnatifid. Veins obscure, flabellately branched. Sori forming a continuous intramarginal line round the apex of the lobes.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 85; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 214; Raoul, Choix, 38; Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 218; Hook. f. Fl. Nouv. Zel. ii. 19; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 359; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 110; Benth. Fl Austral. vii. 720; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 52; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 78, t. 19, f. 1. Adiantum cuneatum, Forst. Prodr. n. 461.
Var. Lessonii, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 19.—Fronds simply pinnate or 2-pinnate at the base alone; pinnæ oblong-lanceolate, entire or lobed or pinnatifid.—L. Lessonii, Bory in Duper. Voy. Coq. 278, t. 37, i. 2; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 84; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 212; Raoul, Choix, 38; Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 217. L. discolor, Col.
North and South Islands: From Hokianga southwards to Foveaux Strait, common in the North Island, local on the eastern side of the South Island. Sea-level to 2500 ft.
Also in Australia, Tasmania, and the Fiji Islands.
3. L. viridis, Col. in Tasmanian Journ. Nat. Sci. (1845) 14.—Rhizome very short, suberect. Stipites densely tufted at the top of the rhizome, 1–4 in. long, slender, wiry, dark chestnut-brown, angled, smooth and polished, glabrous except a tuft of pale-brown scales at the base. Fronds 6–14 in. long, 1–1½ in. broad, lanceolate, acuminate, pale-green, subcoriaceous, 2–3-pinnatifid; rhachis slender, flexuose, shining, naked. Primary pinnæ alternate, ascending, the lower ones much reduced in size, rhomboid-lanceolate; secondary obversely deltoid, simple or deeply lobed or again flabellately pinnate. Ultimate segments about 16 in. long, cuneate or linear-cuneate, truncate. Veins simple or forked. Sori very numerous, at the tips of the segments. Indusium membranous, transversely oblong, from rather broader than long to twice as broad as long; outer valve (tip of the segment) irregularly erose.—Bak. in Journ. Bot. (1875) 109; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. x. (1878) 396; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 51; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 79, t. 21, f. 2. L. trichomanoides (in part), Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 218; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 19; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 359 (not of Dryand.). L. microphylla. Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 110 (the New Zealand plant), not of B. Br.
