Flora of New Zealand Series

Rhizome shortly creeping, clad in hair-like pale to dark brown paleae up to 8 mm. long; stipites densely clustered. Stipes (5)-10-15-(25)cm. long, slender, stiff, wiry, very dark brown, ± lustrous, glab. except at very base. Rhachis similar to stipes, bearing subopp. distant pinnae. Lamina 5-20-(25) × 1·5-2.5-(4) cm., narrow oblong, glab. or nearly so, dull green. Primary pinnae stalked, ascending, about ovate, up to 2.5 cm. × 7 mm. Secondary pinnae or segs shortly stalked to sessile, c. 5 mm. long, narrow-oblong, crenulate; margins ± recurved in dry state. Sori distinct to confluent, ± protected by reflexed pale margin.

DIST.: N., S. Coastal to montane dry sunny rocky places throughout. Also Australia, New Caledonia, Isle of Pines.

POLYMORPHY

The forms of Cheilanthes found in N.Z. are still imperfectly understood. Hybridism has been suspected as one of the causes of diversity (see Cockayne and Allan in Ann. Bot., Lond. 48, 1934, 7).

Kirk (T.N.Z.I. 6, 1874, 247) recognized plants collected at Lyttelton and Banks Peninsula as belonging to C. tenuifolia Swartz and drew up diagnoses comparing it with C. sieberi. J. B. Armstrong (T.N.Z.I. 13, 1881, 360) considered that the plants referred by Kirk to C. tenuifolia were distinct and suggested the name C. Kirkii for them, but gave no details.

Colenso (T.N.Z.I. 25, 1893, 321) described his C. venosa from plants collected on " Dry hills among, low shrub and undisturbed indigenous herbage, in various localities in the county of Hawke's Bay; rather rare, nowhere common. " He emphasizes: " Stipe . . . almost filiform . . . light red and glossy (as also rhachis and subrachises) . . . Frond 2 in.-3 in. long . . . apical lobe very large . . . light green (on both surfaces) . . . each lobe and lobule containing many straight venules and veinlets, extending to margin. Sori loosely scattered. " A sheet in W, " from hills in interior. scarce," from which material was sent to K, has 3 laminae with portions of the stipites. The laminae range from 5 to 22 cm. long. Barren pinnae membr., with inciso-serrate margins; fertile subcoriac., with narrow pinnules, the margins strongly reflexed. Cheeseman treated Colenso's name as a synonym of C. tenuifolia. C. erecta Col. in T.N.Z.I. 28, 1896, 619, was described from plants collected in same general locality as Trichomanes polyodon, " country between lower Waikato (N.), head of Thames, and Kaipara " 1843-44: W.C. " Plant small, usually sub 6 in. high . . . Frond linear . . . 3 in.-31/2 in. long . . . pinnae thickish, flat, glabrous above, densely paleaceous--scaly below . . . the pairs of pinnae have a peculiar regular 4-angled somewhat semicruciform appearance. " The specimens so designated in W have no locality assigned and consist of a number of laminae with portions of the stipites. They do not very well accord with Colenso's description. The largest lamina is 10 × 3·5 cm., the largest pinnae 3·5 × 1·5 cm., long-stalked. Paleae are evident only on some laminae. Cheeseman (loc. cit. 68) placed the name as a synonym of C. sieberi. Neither fits comfortably the spp. assigned by Cheeseman and both were reinstated by C. Christensen Ind. Fil. 1906, 174. The whole group need further study, including cultural experiments.