Flora of New Zealand Series

Polypodium leptophyllum L.

Grammitis leptophylla Swartz Syn. Fil. 1806, 218.

Gymnogramme leptophylla Desv. J. Bot. 1, 1813, 26.

G. novae-zelandiae Col. in Tasm. J. nat. Sci. 2, 1846, 165.

Rhizome very short, weak, ascending, bearing linear ferruginous hairs; stipites tufted. Stipes filiform to very slender, nude except at very base, pale to rather dark brown, shining, 1-6 cm. long. Rhachis filiform to very slender, nude, with rather distant pinnae. Lamina pinnate to subbipinnate, narrow- to ovate-oblong, pale green, flaccid, glab., 1-8 cm. long. Pinnae 5-20 mm., stalked, flabellate-cuneate, deeply lobed, decurrent; lobes rounded, apiculate or not; pinnae sts again flabellately divided to subpinnate. Sporangia pale, clustered on veins, often covering most of lobe. Sts only the inner laminae are fertile.

DIST.: N., S. Lowland to montane dry rocky and grassy places from lat. 36º 30' to 46º; local, in S., east of divide. Also Australia, Tasmania, S. America, Europe, Africa, India.

Colenso's G. novae-zelandiae was described from specimens gathered "in sheltered grassy spots among scoriae, on dry volcanic hills, between Manukau Bay and Tamatu Creek, 1841." The sheet in W with a printed label "TYPE" is labelled by Colenso "on dry grassy hills near Tamaki Creek, Thames, 1842." Stipes dark brown, rather stouter than in most forms, up to 4·5 cm. long; lamina up to 4 cm. long, pinnae again pinnate in lower portion.