p u b e s c e n te v . p ilo s a , p iim u lis a n g u s te l in e a n b u s u ltim is >fepius lo n g e c a iu la tis ile c iu T e iiti- c o a d u tia ti- , c o s ia
c ra s s a , r a c h ib u s s tip i te q u e v a lid is g la b r i s .— / ’/. N. Zeal. ii. 25 ; Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 197. P. e s c u le n ta , ForsL
Prodr. 791; Plant. Esc. t. 7-1-; Swartz, Syn. Fil. 101, 2 9 0 ; Lab. Fl. Nov. Holl. ii. y;. 95. /. 21i.; Br.
Prodr. l o i . (Gunn, 5.)
H a b . Var. esculenta a b u n d a n t th r o u g h o u t th e Island.— ( c .v .)
D is t k ib . Austraiia, New Zealand, Pacitic Islands, Malay Islands, India, South America.
One of the most common Tasmanian Ferns, of which the roots roasted were formerly an article of food
with the natives. The same variety grows iu Australia, New Zeaiaud, uud the Pacific Islands, ami dillers very
slightly from the P. aquilina of the north temperate zone, which is found in one form or another in al! parts of the
world,— subteiTauean, creeping, ofteu as tliick as two fingers. Stipes sometimes 10 feet high, grooved on
one side, stout, pale-yellow, shiuing, glabrous. Mond 2-4 feet long, broadly deltoid, tri-quadi-ipinnatc. of a very
hard, rigid, coriaceous texture, glossy above. Pimmles linear, decurrent, and united with one aiiotlior by forming a
wing to the rachis, often hairy below. Sori coutimious, frequently surrounding the pinnules, and even continued
along their decurrent bases to those of the pinnule below them. Involucres very coriaceous. Midrib very thick,
often gi-ooved aud hairy.
3. P te r is tremula (Br. Prodr. 154); fronde elata glaberrima submembranacea bi-quadripinnata,
pinnis primariis ascendentibus, piimulis linearibus adnatis decurrentibus subacutis sterilibus rarius iiiteger-
rimis crenato-dentatis fertiiibus plerumque integris, venis furcatis omnibus liberis, radii sfipiteqiie glaber-
rimis.— i\'. Zeal. ii. 2 5 ; Hook. Sp. Fll. ii. 174. t. 120 B. {Gunn, 41, 1537, 1538.)
Hab. Common in shaded places, forests, etc.— (v. v.)
D is t iu b . New South Wales and Victoria, New Zeaiaud, Chili, and Juan Fernandez. (Cultivated in
England.)
This is a very common Tasmauian plant, which so closely resembles P. arguta of the south of Europe, the
Atlantic Islands, Abyssinia, Africa, and the East Indies, that I think it possible that it may prove to belong to
that widely-diffused species. Extremely variable iu size, from 1-5 feet, in consistency from membranous to coriaceous,
in colour from pale light-gi-eeu to olive-gi'cen, in amount of the division from hi- to quadri-pinnate, or almost
decompound, aud in breadth and length of the pinnules, which are quite eutii-e or creuate. Its general characters
are those of a perfectly glabrous, tripinnate frond, rather membranous, broadly deltoid, with ascending branches;
the pinnules 1 -2 inclies long and I broad, linear, blunt, adnate, decurrent, crenate, with forke^l, fi-ee veins, and a
glabrous, shining costa and rachis: specimens in which all the pinnules are soriferous have these much narrower,
more coriaceous, with the involucres sometimes reaching to the costa.
§ 3 . L it o b r o c h ia .— Ve, r less anastomosing.
4. P te r is in c isa (Tbuub. Fl. Cap. 733) ; fronde glaberrima elata ampia bi-tripinuata subtus glau-
cescente membranacea, pinnis primariis ovato-lanceolatis, secundariis lineari-lanceolatis acutis sæpius sessilibus
racliive adnatis, pinnulis late oblongis oblongo-Ianceolatisve rarius lanceolatis obtusis integerrimis v.
obtuse lobatis crenatis pinnatifidisve, venulis furcatis basi plerumque anastomosautibus, costa flexuosa, rachi
stipiteque glaberrimis pallidis nitidis antice sulcatis.— Syn. Fil. 99 ; Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 230. V. Vesperti-
lionis, Lab. Fl. Nov. ¡loll. ii.p . 96. i. 245; Br. Prodr. 154; Fl. Antarct. i. 110; Fl. N. Zeal. ii. 276.
P. Endl. Prodr. Fl. Ins. N&rf. P. montana, Colenso, in Tasm. Phil. Journ. {Gunn, 18, 1536.)
IIab. Common in damp woods, and ascending to 3000 feet.— {v.v.) (Cultivated in England.)
D i s t r ib . Extratropical Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, temperate and tropical South
America.
Fronds perfectly glabrous, tall (2-4 feet), ample, broadly deltoid, membranous, glaucous below, bi-tripinnatc ;
smaU specimens are sometimes simply pinnate. Primary pinna ovate-lanceolate; secondary linear, sometimes
pinnatifid; pinnules broadly oblong or rounded, quite entire, adnate and dccurrent, rarely linear; costa flexuose;
veins forked, often joining at the base in the lower pinnules. Stipes and rachis very pale-yeüowish or brown, channelled
in front, shining, often glaucous.
5. P te r is End liche rian a (Agardh, Kecens, Gen. Pterid. p. 6 6 ) ; fronde ampia membranácea flaccida
bi-tripinnata glaberrima v. subtus sparse puberula, pinnis primariis ovato-lanccolatis acuminatis, secun-
darns lanceolatis lineari-lanceolatisve pinnatifidis, segmentis oblongisve subacutis crenato-dentatis pinnatisve,
pinnulis sessilibus stipitatisve plerumque basi adnata decurrentibus lineari-oblongis linearibusve serratis
lobatis pinnatifidisve, lobis serratis, venis furcatis anastomosautibus, rachibus stipiteque glabris.—//ooi. Ic.
P /a « /./. 973; Gen. et Sp. Fil. ii. %IZ-, Gen. Fil. t. Qb B. l \ comz.m, Endl. Prodr. Fl. Ins. Norf. p . IZ,
non Forst. ; Fl. N. Zeal. ii. 26.
IIab. Tasmania, Gunn; no localities attached, but it probably inhabits damp, shaded ravines, in the
forests.— (v. v.)
D i s t r ib . New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Juan Fernandez, Pacific Islands.
This species approaches so closely to P. comans, Forst., that in the New Zealand Flora I united it witb that
plant ; but the pinnæ arc always shorter and less acuminate.—A very similar plant to P. tremula, but with broader
fronds and pinnules, which are very variable in size ; it is best known from that plant by the veins being always
connected by branches near the costa. In some New Zealand specimens tbe frond appears pinnate, or bipinnate
at most ; the pinnæ pinnatifid, with very broad segments, H inch long, and nearly 4 inch broad, acute and serrated
at the tips only ; in tliese the veins branch and anastomose repeatedly.
Gen. X II. LOMARIA, Willd.
Sori frondibus distinctis, lineares, continui; capsulis demum superficiem totam pionulæ contractæ
operieutibus. Involucrum marginale, scariosum, continuum, intus liberum v. dehiscens.—Frondes coriácea,
caspitosa, fertile s sapissime sterilibus distincta.
A large tropical and south temperate genus of Ferns.— tufted, usually pinnatifid or simply pinnate,
the central ones in the tufts bearing fiuctification, tbe outer barren, with broader pinnæ; sometimes one side only,’
or only a few pinnæ of tbe frond are fertile. Sori as iu Ptei-is, but generaUy occupying the whole under surface’
of the pinnule. Involucre marginal, scarious, continuous, often reaching the costa. (Name from \<opa, a fringe;
in aUusion to the scarious indusium,)
§ a. Sterile frond usually simple.
1. Lomarla P a te rson i (Spr. Sjst. Veg. iv. 62) ; frondibus simplicibus indivisis v. piunatifldis
pedalibus suberectis, sterilibus lanceolatis crenato-dentatis acuminatis, fertiiibus auguste Kneari-elongatis,
stipite basi paleaceo.—A W e in SoUuhr Fit. Suppl. p . 66.1. S i ¡ Hook. Fil. Exot. ¿.49. Stegauia Pater-’
soni, Er. Frodr. IÔ2.
Hau. Port Dalrymple, Paterson. (Cultivated in England.)
D i s t iu b . Victoria {Mueller).
TMs rcmartnble Pern lias not been found in Tasmania since Colonel Paterson’s idsit, in the verv early part of
this century, but it Iras long been cultivated at Ken from spores either taken from the dried plant) or that came
over ill soil vitb other plants. It is at once dislingnislied by its simple, rarely pinnatifid fronds, of which the
sterile ate linear-lanceolate, acnminate, and creiinte, the fertile very narrow and linear-elongate.