Art. LXVIII.—Notes on a Lomaria collected in the Malvern District.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 9, 1876, Unnumbered Page

Art. LXVIII.—Notes on a Lomaria collected in the Malvern District. By T. H. Potts, F.L.S. [Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 6th April, 1876.] Lomaria duplicata, n. sp. Rhizome, very long, slender or moderately stout, creeping, brown. Fronds, few, barren and fertile, of various habits, single, double, rarely treble; coriacious, pinnate, 9–24 inches long, sub-erecct or pendulous; upper surface, bright green shaded, lightest on the margin of pinnule; under surface, uniform light green. Stipes, stout, with few scales, scaly at base, often forked, rarely twice forked at varying distances from the base, pendulous. Rachis, smooth, with few scales above and below, sometimes branched. Barren pinnules, finely toothed, few, alternate, less commonly in pairs, ensiform or lanceolate, ascending, 2–8 inches long, stipitate, the upper adnate to the rachis, acuminate. Costa, naked, rarely chaffy. Veins, numerous, simple or forked, ascending. Fertile pinnules, narrow, on long, stout, erect, separate fronds, single or double, longer by one-third and upwards than those bearing barren pinnules. This curious form of Lomaria was found growing on poor whitish cob, beneath a rather dense undergrowth, in a Fagus forest in the Malvern district, about 1,500 feet above sea level. It appears to be a late grower, as but few fertile fronds were met with amongst upwards of one hundred plants seen by the writer, whilst those of L. procera, discolor, fluviatilis, alpina, patersoni, etc., were observed in great abundance (March 16). One plant that came under notice had barren fronds single and double, whilst every fertile frond was double, giving the fern a remarkable appearance; the long short stipes carrying the fertile pinnules high above the delicately-shaped, pendulous, barren fronds. The writer proposes to name this plant provisionally Lomaria duplicata, from its peculiar habit of bearing barren and fertile fronds in duplicate.