Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/987

Loxsoma.] 1. L. Cunninghamii, ''R. Br. ex A. Cunn. Precur''. n. 215, t. 31, 32.—Rhizome long, stout, tortuous, densely clothed with linear red-brown hairs. Stipes 1–2 ft. high, erect, pale-brown, glabrous, smooth and polished. Fronds 9–24 in. long, 6–12 in. broad, broadly triangular, coriaceous, dark-green above, glaucous-white or pale-green beneath; rhachis polished, channelled. Primary pinnæ rather distant, ascending, the upper alternate, the lowermost opposite; secondary ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, pinnate below, pinnatifid above. Ultimate segments oblong, subacute, toothed or notched. Sori inserted in the notches, the indusium pointing backwards from the frond.—Raoul, Choix, 38; ''Hook. Gen. Fil. t. 15; Sp. Fil. i. 86; Garden Ferns, t. 31; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel.'' ii. 18; ''Handb. N.Z. Fl. 358; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 56; Thoms. N.Z Ferns, 33; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 55, t. 12, f. 1. Trichomanes cœnopteroides, Harv. ex A. Cunn. I.c. Davallia dealbata, A. Cunn. I.c.''

Tree-ferns, the New Zealand species with a trunk or caudex varying from 10–50 ft. or even more. Fronds very large, usually 2–3-pinnate, very rarely (in species not found in New Zealand) pinnate or undivided. Stipes often muricate or aculeate. Sori dorsal, globose, situated upon a vein or at the fork of a vein; receptacle elevated, globose or elongated. Indusium globose, at first covering the whole sorus, but soon bursting at the summit, often in an irregular manner, usually persistent as a cup surrounding the base of the sorus, its margin entire or laciniate. Sporangia numerous, sessile or nearly so, often mixed with jointed hairs, bursting transversely; ring somewhat oblique, usually complete.