2. Asplenium scleroprium, Hombr. et Jacq. in Toy. an Pole Sud, Pot. Monocot. Crypt. t. 1. D. sine Rescript.
Hab. Lord Auckland's group. (J/J/. Hombron et Jacqiiiiwf.)
On this plant I can give no information, the plate of MM. Hombron and Jacquinot being unaccompanied by any description. Some of my specimens of A. obtusatum approach the figure quoted above, and entirely agree with it in the fonn of the son : they differ in the pinna; being less strongly crenato-serrate. The name probably alludes to the texture of the plant, which like that of many of the southern species is remarkably thick and coriaceous.
3. Asplenium flaccidin//, Yorst.; Prod): n. 426. Presl, Pferid.'p.lQQ. Caenopteris «! Darea auctoriuu.
Var. fi. AucUandicum, Hook, fil.; erectum, frondibus lineari- v. oblongo-lanceolatis crassis pinnatis, pinnis lineari-laiiceolatis inciso-serratis, involucris a costa remotis interdiun supra seginenta productis.
Hab. Lord Auckland's group ; frequent on the margins of woods near the sea.
Yarietas erecta, bi-tripedalis, crassa et coriacea, laete-virens, sublucida, inter Asplenium verum Ceenopteridemque quasi media. Frondes 1-1-j- ped. longae, - J lata;, apice in laminam attenuatam basi profunde laciniatam products', pinnatae. Pinna reinotse, sublonge petiolatfe, lineari-elongata: v. lanceolatae, crassa;, 3-5 unc. longae, unc. lata;, basi suboblique attenuatae, superne in apicem linearem obtusam sinuatam subcaudatam producta?, per totam longitudinem regulariter profunde iuciso-serratae ; laciniis linearibus, obtusis, sub unc. longis, infimis rarissime bifidis, costa crassa, latiuscula ; venis simplicibus, obsciuis, ad apices laciniarum percurrentibus. Sori latiusculi, a costa remoti, parte superiore saepe ultra pinnam supra lacinias producto, iisque marginale. Rachis latiuscula, subalata, supra medio costata, subtus canaliculata, plerumque glaberrima. Stipes validus, crassitie pennae anserinae, basi civrvatus et ascendens, angulatus, hinc illinc paleis rarissimis membranaceis sparsis.
This is a very handsome Fem, and, as it appears in Lord Auckland's group, very different frorn A. obtusatum, but is so closely allied to the A.flaccidum, a very common plant in the New Zealand Islands, that I have retained it as a variety of that plant. The pinnae are attenuate and narrow, produced at the apex into a long caudate obtuse lacinia, they are remarkably uuiform throughout the frond, but in my largest specimen the base of one 'of the lowest pinnae is trapezoid, much broader than the rest, more deeply divided, with the veins sometimes forked. This, together with the remoteness of the short sori from the costa, and their frequent extension along the inner edge of the lacinia;, is what obtains in the more entire varieties of the A.flaccidum. The tendency to produce the sori at a distance from the costa appears to remove this species from A. obtusatum, Forst. and its allies, to which its regularly pinnated frond bears much resemblance, connecting it on the other hand with A. bulbiferum, Torst., and its inconstant ally A. laxum, Br., some of whose states again are very near to varieties of this. With reference to the very variable nature of some genera of Ferns, and especially of those in the islands of the Southern Hemisphere, I may here transcribe a remark made by a very acute observer of plants, Mr. James Backhouse, dming his visit to Norfolk Island:[1] "On the rocks of the S. coast Asplenium difforme grows, a Fern resembling the A. marinum of England. At a short distance from the shore its leaves become more divided, and in the woods, in the interior of the island, they are separated into such narrow segments, that the lines of fructification are thrown upon
their margins. It then becomes Canopteris Odontites. But every possible gradation is to be met with between this state, and that in which it grows on rocks washed by the sea." Having no Norfolk Island specimens of these plants, I am unable to offer any further comment except that some specimens of A. difforme in Mr. J. Smith's Herbarium seem to confirm this view, and that Mr. Backhouse's well known accuracy entitles any observation of his to much consideration. The A. marinum itself has a wide geographical range, varying considerably in its several localities, and more in some places than in others ; some of these I have alluded to in describing the plants of the Galapago Islands. (MS. ined.)
- ↑ Narrative of a Visit to the Austraban Colonies, by James Backhouse.
