Flora of New Zealand Series

Polypodium serpens Forst. f. Prodr. 1786, 81.

P. rupestre R. Br. Prodr. 1810, 146.

Niphobolus bicolor Kaulf. Enum. Fil. 1824, 128.

N. rupestris Spreng. Syst. Veg. 4, 1827, 44.

P. stellatum A. Rich. Essai Fl. N.Z. 1832, 64.

Cyclophorus serpens (Forst. f.) C. Christen. Ind. Fil. 1905, 201.

Rhizome elongate, creeping, 1-2 mm. diam., densely clad in pale brown to ferruginous linear-attenuate paleae; stipites approximate to distant, sparsely to densely clad with stellate hairs and with tuft of paleae at base, articulate on rhizome. Fronds dimorphic; lamina coriac., thick, dark green above, with scattered pale stellate hairs, becoming glab.; densely clad below in pale to buff matted stellate hairs; margin entire, occ. sinuate or shallowly lobed, recurved; main vein prominent below, veinlets hidden, copiously anastomosing: (a) of broadly obovate to suborbicular order, 10-35 × 5-25 mm. on stipites 5-10 mm. long, very seldom bearing sori: (b) of linear to oblong or elliptic order 3-15 cm. × 10-15 mm. on stipites 20-75 mm. long, bearing sori or not. Sori in two rows near margin, or densely placed, often confluent, over most of the lower surface, few to very ∞ 1-3 mm. diam.

DIST.: K., N., S., St., Ch. Terrestrial, rupestral or epiphytic in lowland to montane forests and rocky places. Also in Australia, Norfolk Id and Polynesia.

In W is a Colenso specimen labelled by him as var. sinuatum; one barren leaf is more deeply sinuate than usual.