Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/1010

970 Understood in the wide sense of the "Synopsis Filicum," this is a large genus of 125 species or more, almost cosmopolitan in its distribution. Two of the New Zealand species are endemic, two extend to Australia and the Pacific islands, the remaining two are very widely spread indeed.

1. P. aquilina, ''Linn. Sp. Plant. 1533; var. esculenta, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel.'' ii. 25.—Rhizome stout, as thick as the finger, creeping, much branched, often matted, subterranean, producing numerous scattered fronds. Stipes variable in length, stout, rigid, erect, brown, smooth and shining. Fronds usually from 2–6 ft. long including the stipes, but often taller and sometimes 10–12 ft., broadly deltoid in outline, coriaceous, glabrous or nearly so when mature, usually more or less rusty-pubescent when young, especially on the under-surface, 3–4-pinnate; rhachises grooved above, usually pubescent. Primary pinnæ broad, distant, spreading, the lowest pair the largest and most compound, the upper ones gradually decreasing in size; secondary and tertiary lanceolate, always terminating in a linear obtuse undivided segment. Ultimate segments linear or linear-oblong, decurrent at the base. Veins free, once or twice forked. Sori usually continuous all round the segment, and often extending to the decurrent base. Indusium double, but the