Gleichenia cunninghamii Heward ex Hook.
Sticherus cunninghamii (Hew.) Ching in Sunyatsenia 5, 1940, 283.
Waekura. Umbrella fern.
Rhizome stout, up to 6 mm. or more diam., invested with very dark brown, shining, triangular-acuminate, ± fimbriate scales. Stipes 10-20 cm. long, ± clad in pale brown scales and hairs. Pinnae 15-30 cm. long, narrow-lanceolate in outline, ± spreading in a horizontal plane. Pinnules coriac., 1-2 cm. long, linear, broadening slightly to base, acute, glaucous below; veins once-forked. Sori cop., sporangia 2-5 per sorus, yellowish-brown.
DIST.: N., S., St. Lowland to upper montane forest throughout, less common in S. Endemic.
G. ciliata Col. in T.N.Z.I. 29, 1897, 414 was described from plants collected "on east side of Mount Ruapehu, Taupo District; 1895, E. W. Andrews"; the pinnules floccose below, the veins pinnate, the scales large and ovate with margins white and much ciliated; sporangia 2-3 yellow. Its status needs re-examination. A specimen labelled as the type, in W (not by Colenso), is stated to have been collected by Andrews on the Ruahine Range.
