Flora of New Zealand Series

lady fern

Rhizomes short, erect, stout, densely clothed with brown scales. Stipes 10-20 cm long, scaly especially at base, green or purplish red. Laminae elliptic or narrowly elliptic, 2-3-pinnate at base, 45-100 × 18-40 cm. Primary pinnae in up to 30 pairs, narrowly ovate, the longest about middle of lamina, to 25 × 4 cm. Secondary pinnae narrowly ovate, to 2 cm long. Sori 1-2 mm long, ± oblong, the lower ones hooked, the upper straight, in rows either side of midrib of secondary pinnae, nearer midrib than margin, protected by persistent flap-like indusia.

S.: Canterbury (Christchurch - well established, particularly along banks of Avon R.).

N. temperate, India, tropical America 1976

Damp streamsides.

This is an exceedingly variable sp. with many forms in cultivation.

Fig. 3. A-B Athyrium filix-femina, A secondary pinna, B indusium; C-D Cystopteris fragilis, C frond, D indusium; E-F C. tasmanica, E frond, F indusium. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X4M]