Flora of New Zealand Series

Lonchites tenuifolia Forst. f. Prodr. 1786, 80.

Cheilanthes ambigua A. Rich. Essai Fl. N.Z. 1832, 84.

C. arborescens Swartz Syn. Fil. 1806, 129, t. 336?

Rhizome 3-4 mm. diam., far-creeping, branched, densely to sparingly clad in dark brown hairs; stipites distributed to approximate. Stipes up to 20-50 cm. × 2-4 mm., pale brown to stramineous, except towards dark base, muriculate, clad in us. rather sparse hairs. Rhachis (and costae) rather stout, pale brown to stramineous, with dense or scattered hairs. Lamina tripinnate, broadly deltoid, 20-90 × 15-60 cm., pale to rather dark green, membr. to subcoriac.; pinnae subopp. to alt. Primary pinnae often arcuate, spreading, ovate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, acute to acuminate, 18-50 × 10-25 cm. Secondary pinnae narrow ovate-oblong, acute, 5-10 × 2-5 cm. Tertiary pinnae oblong, obtuse, pinnatifid to pinnatisect or sts pinnate, 1 cm. × 5 mm. Segs oblong-obtuse, to narrow-oblong, 1-2 mm. long, sts bluntly toothed. Sori us. cop., up to 5 pairs per seg., near sinuses, hardly 1 mm. diam.

DIST.: K., N., S., St., Ch. In lowland forests throughout, often abundant. Endemic.

Forster's L. tenuifolia is thus described: "arborescens, frondibus decompositis, foliis pinnatis: pinnis lineari oblongis serratis, infimis pinnatifidis. Tanna." The sp. is recorded also for Norfolk Id, Australia, Pacific Is and Java, but the complex of forms stands in need of critical study.

Carse (T.N.Z.I. 56, 1926, 83) mentions as a distinct form a tall robust plant. Fronds reach 2 m. in height with stipes up to 2 cm. diam. and 1 m. long.

 var. pellucida (Col.) Hook. Sp. Fil. 2, 1858, t. 90 A. Cheilanthes pellucida Col. in Tasm. J. nat. Sci. 2, 1846, 173.

Rhachis stout, up to 3 mm. diam., light brown, bearing ∞ red-brown hairs. Primary pinnae up to 30 × 12 cm., ovate to narrow-ovate, acuminate, subcoriac. Secondary pinnae up to 7 × 2.5 cm., very regularly diminishing towards terminal seg., rather close-set and nearly ∞ costa, which is rather densely clad in brown hairs. Tertiary pinnae up to 12 × 4 mm., pinnatifid, regularly diminishing to terminal seg.; segs obtuse; sori ± protected by recurved teeth. Type locality: "On clayey declivities in dry woods, between Cape Brett and Wangarei Bay, E. Coast; 1839-1842." Type: W, "Dry Woods, E. Coast W.C." Colenso remarks: "I can but consider this plant as intermediate between the two genera, Lonchitis and Cheilanthes; and as a link uniting both; possessing as it does, the simple venation of the latter, with the sinus-situated sori of the former genus." Colenso had seen only "two or three specimens". Further investigation is desirable.