Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/1012

972 brown, darker at the base. Fronds 1–3 ft. long or more, 6–24 in. broad, ovate or ovate-deltoid, acuminate, bright-green, herbaceous, quite glabrous, 2–4-pinnate; rhachis smooth, naked. Primary pinnæ 6–12 pairs, subopposite; the lowest 6–15 in. long, ovate-lanceolate or ovate-deltoid, usually bipinnate, sometimes tripinnate; upper gradually becoming shorter and narrower and less compound; the uppermost linear, pinnate or pinnatifid. Ultimate segments ½–1½ in. long, $1⁄10$–$1⁄6$ broad, linear or linear-oblong, obtuse, sessile and decurrent at the base; fertile usually entire or slightly crenate at the tips; barren generally broader and with the margins crenate throughout; veins free, forked. Sori copious, usually continuous on both the upper and lower edges of the segments, rarely interrupted.—''Hook. Sp. Fil.'' ii. 174, t. 120b; ''Hook. Fl. Nov. Zel.'' ii. 25; ''Handb. N.Z. Fl. 364; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 161; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vii. 731; ''Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 60; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 90, t. 28, f. 2. P. affinis, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 81; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 201; Raoul, Choix,'' 38. P. tenuis, ''A. Cunn. Precur.'' n. 205. P. Kingiana, ''Endl. Prodr. Fl. Insl. Norfolk.'' 13.

4. P. comans, Forst. Prodr. n. 419.—Rhizome short, stout, sub-erect. Stipes 1–2 ft. long or more, erect, yellow-brown, polished, naked or clothed at the base with dark-brown scales. Fronds 1–4 ft. long, ½–3 ft. broad, broadly deltoid, acuminate, membranous, dark-green, quite glabrous, 2-pinnate or rarely 3-pinnate at the base; rhachis smooth, polished. Lower pinnæ in large specimens nearly 2 ft. long by 1 ft. broad and bipinnate, but usually from 9–18 in. and pinnate, shortly stalked; upper pinnæ gradually becoming shorter and narrower, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, regularly pinnatifid; terminal pinna 6–9 in. long, cut down almost to the rhachis. Ultimate segments variable in size and shape, 1–3 in. long, ¼–½ in. broad, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate to linear-oblong, acute or obtuse, straight or falcate, the fertile ones serrate at the tips or sinuate-serrate or sinuate-lobed, sums between the segments acute. Veins anastomosing copiously. Sori continuous, but not reaching the apex of the segments.—''A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 79; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 199; Raoul, Choix, 38; Hook. Sp. Fil.'' ii. 219; ''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel.'' ii. 26; ''Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 171; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vii. 733; ''Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 62; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 95, t. 24, f. 1. P. Endlicheriana, Aghard Sp. Pterid. 66; Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 973; Sp. Fil.'' ii. 218; ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 364. Litobrochia comans, ''Presl. Tent. Pteridogr.'' 66.