Flora of New Zealand Series

G. australis R. Br. Prodr. 1810, 146.

Polypodium billardieri (Willd.) C. Christen. Ind. Fil. 1906, 513.

P. australe (R. Br.) Mett. Polyp. 15, 1857, non Fée.

Rhizome short, sts branched, rather slender, densely clad when young in pale brown ovate to ovate-lanceolate paleae up to 5 mm. long; stipites crowded. Stipes slender, up to 2 cm. long, very narrowly winged, wings merging into lamina, glab. to ciliate. Lamina dark green, submembr. to coriac., linear-lanceolate to narrow-oblong, obtuse to subacute, entire to rather obscurely sinuate, sts with a few slender hairs on lower surface, with or without a slightly thickened margin; 3-15 cm. × 2-5-(8) mm.; main vein evident, veinlets evident to obscure, simple or forked. Sori slightly oblique, us. ∞, sts confluent; in a single row on each side of main vein, nearer to it than to margin; up to 30 subopp. pairs; oblong, 6-3 mm. long, without or with a few hairs.

DIST.: N., S., St., A., C., Ant., M. Lowland to montane, us. as a low epiphyte. Also Australia, Tasmania.