Flora of New Zealand Series

Rhizomes short-creeping or ± erect, scaly. Stipes and rachises stiffly hairy. Laminae broadly ovate to ± orbicular, 12-30 × 10-25 cm, usually pedate, sometimes (2)-3-pinnate, divided into 5-15 branches to 20 cm long and bearing up to 40 pinnules on each side. Ultimate pinnules ± oblong or parallelogrammoid, 5-15 × 3-6 mm; stalk attached at proximal corner; upper and outer margins finely toothed, lower and inner margins entire; upper surface glabrous, lower hairy, both surfaces dark green at maturity but red-tinged when young. Indusia ± reniform with shallow sinuses, hairy, up to 22 per pinnule on upper and outer margins, often extending to inner margin.

N.: common in coastal and lowland forest from North Cape to Raglan and Bay of Plenty, scattered coastal localities from Taranaki to Wellington; S.: unsubstantiated reports only; K., Ch. (not seen recently).

Also indigenous to Africa, India, S.E. Asia, Australia and Pacific Is.

Dry banks, rock crevices, dry coastal forest.

Parris, B. S., New Zealand J. Bot. 18 : 503-506 (1980), has drawn attention to the 2 forms of the A. hispidulum complex in N.Z. One, referable to A. hispidulum sens. strict., has stout, rigid hairs 0.1-0.4-(0.7) mm long on the undersurfaces of the ultimate pinnules, and the fronds pedate or (2)-3-pinnate; the other, referable to A. pubescens Schkuhr, has thin, subrigid hairs 0.3-0.6-(0.9) mm long on the undersurfaces of the pinnules, and the fronds always pedate. Whether these morphological differences are sufficient to warrant recognition of 2 distinct spp. requires further investigation. There is no obvious ecological differentiation and, indeed, the 2 forms often grow together. The distributions are also similar, although only A. pubescens has been found on the Kermadecs (Sykes 1977).