Flora of New Zealand Series

Lomaria membranacea Col. in Hook. Sp. Fil. 3, 1860, 34, t. 145.

L. oligoneuron Col. in T.N.Z.I. 16, 1884, 346.

L. intermedia Col. loc. cit. 19, 1887, 274.

L. pygmaea Col. loc. cit. 25, 1893, 322.

Rhizome stout, erect or ascending, invested by bases of fallen stipites, clad in dark subulate- to linear-attenuate paleae c. 5 mm. long; stipites tufted. Stipes slender, 1-5 cm. long, blackish, ± paleate. Rhachis slender, paleate to nude, bearing numerous pinnae. Sterile lamina membr., bright green, 5-15-(30) × 1-4 cm., narrow-lanceolate, acuminate. Pinnae close-set, lower distinct, upper merging into pinnatifid apex, (4)-10-(20) cm. × 2-7 mm., oblong to suborbicular, crenate- to dentate-serrate, attached by broad base. Fertile lamina 5-15 cm. long, linear-lanceolate; pinnae distant, linear, 4-15 mm. long. Sori covering whole of undersurface.

DIST.: N., S. Lowland to lower montane forest by streamsides, throughout, but local in S. Endemic?

Colenso's L. oligoneuron from "Great Barrier Islet, Thames, 1883: Mr. C. P. Winkelmann" has the sterile pinnae coarsely crenate-serrate. L. intermedia Col. from "damp shaded localities, Seventy-Mile Bush, County of Waipawa; 1880-1886: W.C." is said to differ in the larger size, crenate sterile pinnae and subcrenulate margins of fertile pinnae. L. pygmaea Col. based on specimens from "open lands, damp spots, rocky places, between Dannevirke and the East Coast, County of Waipawa; 1892: Mr. H. Hill," is described as: "2 in.-3 in. high . . . Barren frond 11/2-21/2 in. long, 2-3 lines wide at middle, pinnatifid . . . pinnules 13-15 on each side, alternate, regular semi-orbicular or hippocrepiform . . . Fertile frond . . . 2 in. long, 1/10 in. wide, pinnate; pinnae alternate, orbicular, about 1/2 line diameter." I have not located type material of these Colensoan spp.