Flora of New Zealand Series

Acrostichum barbarum L. Sp. Pl. 2, 1753, 1072.

Osmunda barbara Thunb. Prodr. Pl. Cap. 1800, 171.

T. africana Willd. in Schrift. Akad. Erf. 1802, 14, t. 3, f. 1.

Stock stout, erect, up to 6 dm. diam. and 12 dm. tall. Stipes up to 1 cm. or more diam. and 6 dm. long, brown, grooved, smooth; rhachides and costae similar. Primary pinnae 10-20 cm. long; pinnules coriac., bluntly toothed, 1·5-5 cm. long, 2-5 mm. wide, about linear-lanceolate, uppermost confluent. Sporangia crowded on veinlets of lower pinnules, often hiding surface of pinnule.

DIST.: N. Lowland forest and scrub, open to rocky places, often in gullies, from North Cape to a little south of lat. 35º. Also on Poor Knights Is. Occurs in Tasmania, Australia and S. Africa.