14. H. Malingii, Metten. ex Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 66.—Forming small patches on the trunks and branches of trees. Rhizome slender, creeping, sparsely clothed with reddish-brown hairs. Fronds 2–8 in. long, ½–1½ in. broad, narrow-oblong to linear, erect or pendulous, opaque, rigid, reddish-brown or greyish-brown, everywhere most densely covered with stellate hairs mixed with very minute close-set clavate papillae, 2–3-pinnatifid. Stipes 1–3 in. long, very slender, almost filiform, not winged, densely tomentose. Pinnæ close or distant, ⅓–⅔ in. long, rarely more, the lower ones ovate-rhomboidal. the upper oblong, deeply pinnatifid; secondary divisions cuneate or flabellate, deeply pinnatifidly cut. Ultimate segments very narrow-linear, obtuse, almost terete and coriaceous from the dense coating of tomentum, which entirely conceals the frond proper. Sori small, terminating the segments. Indusium hidden by the tomentum, orbicular, 2-valved rather more than half-way down; valves denticulate at the apex.—Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 44; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 67, t. 7, f. 2. Trichomanes Malingii, Hook. Garden Ferns, t. 64; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 357.
North Island: Summit of Te Aroha Mountain, Adams! T.F.C.; Mount Egmont, Mrs. Jones, T.F.C.; Ruahine Mountains and base of Ruapehu, H. C. Field. South Island: Nelson—Mountains behind Massacre Bay, Maling; Takaka, Kingsley. Westland—Mountains near Greymouth, Enys! near Kumara, J. M. Brame! Franz Josef Glacier, Haast. Canterbury—Banks Peninsula, T.H. Potts! Otago—Mount Cargill, Pine Hill, Buchanan! Thomson! 500–3500 ft.
A most curious and remarkable little plant, confined to New Zealand. The peculiar indumentum of the frond is well worth careful examination.
15. H. Cheesemanii, Bak. ex Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. (edit. 2) 464.—Minute, forming cushions on the branches of trees, or creeping amongst mosses and hepaticæ. Rhizome branched, wide-creeping, smooth and wiry. Fronds very small, ¼–1 in. long, simple or forked or digitately 3–5-fid, quite glabrous, dark-green, texture firm. Stipes very short, filiform, ⅛–¼ in. long. Segments about 110 in. broad, linear-oblong or ligulate, obtuse, with a single stout dark-coloured costa in each; margins not usually conspicuously thickened, strongly ciliate-dentate; teeth ascending, dark-brown or black, sometimes caducous. Sori 1–3 to a frond, terminating the segments. Indusium slightly sunk in the frond at the base, orbicular-oblong, dark brownish-black, of a more compact texture than the frond, 2-valved nearly to the base; valves smooth, convex, quite entire, recurved in age.—Ic. Plant. 1. 1132; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. viii. (1876) 329; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 36; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 65, t. 5, f. 3.
Var. Armstrongii.—Precisely similar in size and habit, but texture firmer and margins strongly thickened.—H. Armstrongii, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. x. (1878) App. 43, t. 21a; Bak. Ic. Plant, t. 1614. H. melanocheilos, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1885) 255. Trichomanes Armstrongii, Bak. ex Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. (edit. 2) 465
