Rhizome short, thick, creeping. Stipes rigid, wiry, erect. Fronds simple or forked or dichotomously branched, flat or terete, very narrow, without expanded laminæ. Sori on the under-surface of fertile segments terminating the frond or its branches, each segment consisting of a number of crowded linear pinnæ, those of the opposite sides being usually applied to one another so as to conceal the under - surface. Sporangia ovoid, sessile, splitting vertically, crowned by a complete transverse ring, arranged in 2 or rarely 4 rows on the under-surface of the pinnæ of the fertile segments.
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S. fistulosa,
Labill. Pl Nov. Holl. ii. 103, t. 250.—Rhizome short, thick, creeping, clothed with dark chestnut-brown linear scales. Fronds numerous towards the end of the rhizome, not distinct from the stipes, dark-brown below, greenish-brown above, 4–12 in. long, ¼0 in. broad, filiform, erect or flexuous, rigid, wiry, terete, grooved down the face, unbranched. Fertile segment terminating the frond, ½–1 in. long, erect or suberect, consisting of 10–20 closely placed pinnæ on each side; pinnæ all pointing in one direction, ⅛–¼ in. long, linear, incurved at the tip; margins denticulate or fringed. Sporangia in 2 closely placed rows, covering the whole of the under-surface.—
Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 749;
Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 429;
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 693;
Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 95;
Field, N.Z. Ferns, 150, t. 14, f. 5. S. propinqua,
A. Cunn. Precur. n. 168.
Var.
australis,
Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 749.—Smaller, 1–3 in. high; rhizome stouter in proportion. Fertile segment ¼–⅓ in. long, of 6–8 pairs of pinnæ.—S. australis,
Gaud. Fl. Ins. Mal. 98;
Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 111;
Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 428;
Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 95. S. palmata,
Homb. and Jacq. Voy. au Pôle Sud, Crypt, t. 4, f. 2.
North and South Islands, Chatham Islands, Auckland Islands: The typical form not uncommon in barren clay soils throughout the North Island, apparently rare and local to the south of Cook Strait. Var.
australis: Cold peaty localities in mountain districts from Moehau (Cape Colville) southwards, descending to sea-level in Stewart Island and the Auckland Islands. Sea-level to 4000 ft.
Also in Australia and Tasmania, New Caledonia, Madagascar, Chili, and the Falkland Islands.
S. australis is clearly only a depauperated form, connected with the type by transitional stages.
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S. bifida
Swartz, Syn. Fil. 151.—Rhizome very short, stout, creeping. Fronds close together along the rhizome, not distinct from the stipes, 6–12 in. high or more, about ⅓0 in. diam., rigid, erect, wiry, more or less scabrous, somewhat flattened, with a prominent midrib and narrow thick wing on each side, usually forked at or below the middle, rarely undivided, the branches sometimes forked a second time. Fertile segments terminating the branches, ½–¾ in. long, erect or slightly recurved, rather broader than in
S. fistulosa, of 10–20 closely placed Pinnæ on each side. Pinnæ all turned to the one side, ⅙–⅓ in. long, linear, fringed with long cilia. Sporangia in 2 closely placed rows, rather smaller than in
S. fistulosa.—
A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 95;
A. Cunn. Precur. n. 169;
Raoul, Choix, 37;
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 47,
and Handb. N.Z. Fl. 385
(in part); Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 429;
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 693;
Thoms.
N.Z. Ferns, 96;
Field, N.Z. Ferns, 151, t. 12, f. 3.
North Island: On sterile clay or pumiceous soils from the North Cape to Cook Strait, but often local.
South Island: Nelson—Takaka and Paramahoi,
Kingsley. Sea-level to 2000 ft.
Also in Australia and Tasmania. Unbranched specimens are best distinguished from
S. fistulosa by the scabrous frond and broader fertile segment.
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S. dichotoma,
Swartz, Syn. Fil. 151.—Rhizome short, stout, creeping. Fronds few or many, close together, 6–14 in. long, erect, rigid, wiry; lower portion or stipes angular, channelled in front; upper portion repeatedly dichotomous, forming a flabellate or deltoid frond 2–4 in. across or more; branches flattened, ½0–1½ in. broad; midrib stout, evident; margins sometimes minutely toothed towards the tip. Fertile segments terminating the branches, distinctly stalked, erect or inclined, ¼–⅓ in. long, consisting of 4–10 spreading pinnæ on each side; Pinnæ ⅛–¼ in. long, linear, fringed with long hairs. Sporangia in two closely placed rows.—
Hook. and Grev. 1c. Fil. t. 17;
A. Cunn. Precur. n. 170;
Raoul, Choix, 37;
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 47;
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 385;
Hook and Bak. Syn. Fil. 430;
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 694;
Thoms.
N.Z. Ferns, 96;
Field, N.Z. Ferns, 151, t. 24, f. 2.
North Island: Auckland—In kauri forests from Kaitaia and Mongonui southwards to Tairua and the Lower Waikato, not common; in heated soil near hot springs at Orakeikorako, Upper Waikato,
Kirk, C. J. Norton! Sea-level to 1500 ft.
A widely spread species, found in the tropical and warm temperate regions of both hemispheres, with the exception of Africa.
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