Flora of New Zealand Series

H. zeelandicum Van den Bosch in Ned. kruidk. Arch. 5, 1863, 175.

H. pusillum Col. in T.N.Z.I. 12, 1880, 365.

Type locality: "On sides of prostrate and reclining trees, shores of Waikare Lake, Dec. 1841". Type: W, Colenso. Endemic?

Rhizome filiform; stipites rather distant to close-set. Stipes filiform, 5-30 mm. long, not winged. Rhachis filiform, narrowly winged in upper part. Lamina 2-8 cm. long, pale green, pellucid, narrow-ovate to lanceolate-oblong, pinnate; pinnae rather distant to approximate, pinnatifid; final segs oblong, teeth falcate to almost straight. Sori on short lateral segs near axils in upper part of lamina, free to very slightly immersed. Indusium 1·5-2 mm. long, suborbicular, much wider than seg., 2-valved nearly to base; valves obovate to suborbicular, spinulosely toothed on margins. Receptacle included to barely exserted.

DIST.: N., S., St. Lowland to montane forests throughout. Recorded by Hooker (Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 352, as H. tunbridgense) from A.

Hooker (loc. cit.) describes " var. ß cupressiforme. Frond longer, narrower, more rigid, erect; segments remote, decurved, very narrow. Involucre free.- H. cupressiforme, Labill. Fl. Nov. Holl. t. 250, f. 2; H. revolutum, Col." H. cupressiforme Labill. Nov. Holl. Pl. Sp. 2, 1806, 102, t. 250, fig. 2, is said by Copeland (Philipp. J. Sci. 64, 1937, 77) to differ from H. revolutum, inter alia, by the marginal teeth being straight. A critical comparison of the N.Z. and Tasmanian plants has not been made. H. pusillum and H. zeelandicum are based on small plants under 3 cm. in frond length. Holloway (T.N.Z.I. 54, 1923, 593) says: "H. Tunbridgense is extremely variable in its frond-form, but from the fact that the different forms are not found intermixed, and that they are characteristic of slightly different stations, it would seem that they are the expression of small differences in the environment." The whole complex, and the possible hybridism with H. peltatum, needs further study in the field.

The status of H. pygmaeum Col. in T.N.Z.I. 13, 1881, 376, remains uncertain. I have been unable to locate any specimens so named by Colenso, and here condense his description: Rhizome capillary, tomentose with fine red hairs; plant densely matted. Stipes 2-4 mm. long, filiform, naked or with a few minute scales. Lamina 4 mm. long, 4-8·5 mm. broad, fan-shaped, light green; pinnate with usually 1 pair of pinnae; margins "laciniate or slashed", teeth falcate. Involucre obconic, "free on apex of short rhachis", 3 mm. long. with "a few scattered soft spinulose processes"; valves divided less than halfway, "fimbriated with 14-17 translucent flexuose and subulate long green teeth or cilia". Receptacle included or slightly exserted in age.

"Hab.-On cliff, Preservation Inlet; on rocks, Resolution Island; and on rocks at the Bealey, J. D. Enys; hills round Lyttelton Harbour, Westland, coast south of Hokitika, etc."