Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/1014

974 simply pinnate. Secondary pinnæ lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid, sometimes pinnate at the base. Ultimate segments oblong or oblong-deltoid, obtuse, those of the barren fronds often sinuate-dentate or lobed. Veins sometimes all free, but usually more or less anastomosing near the costa of the pinnules. Sori continuous or interrupted, seldom reaching either the base or apex of the segment.—''Hook. Sp. Fil.'' ii. 230; ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 364; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 172; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vii. 732; ''Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 62; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 96, t. 8, f. 4. P. vespertilionis, Lab. Pl. Nov. Holl.'' ii. 96, t. 245; ''Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 110; Fl. Nov. Zel.'' ii. 26. P. Brunoniana, ''Endl. Prodr. Fl. Insl. Norfolk. 12; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 203; Raoul, Choix,'' 38. P. montana. ''Col. in Tasmanian Journ. Nat. Sc.'' (1845) 12. Litobrochia incisa and L. vespertilionis, ''Presl. Tent. Pteridogr.'' 149. Histiopteris incisa, ''Aghard Sp. Pteridog.''

Rhizome creeping or short and suberect, sometimes lengthened into a short caudex, rarely long and climbing. Fronds variable in size, usually simply pinnate or pinnatifid, rarely undivided, very rarely bipinnate, dimorphic; the outer fronds sterile with large and broad flat pinnæ, the inner fertile with smaller linear pinnæ. Veins free, not anastomosing. Sori linear, in a continuous elongated line occupying the whole space between the midrib and the margin. Indusium linear, membranous, composed of the more or less modified edge of the frond, at first revolute over the sorus, ultimately spreading. Sporangia stalked, girt by an incomplete vertical ring, bursting transversely.