1. T. reniforme, Forst. Prodr. n. 462.—Creeping over the ground in moist forests, or clothing the trunks of trees and rotten logs. Rhizome stout, hard, rigid, wide-creeping; rootlets woolly. Stipes 2–8 in. long, erect, wiry, glabrous. Fronds 2–4 in. broad, quite entire, broadly reniform with a deep sinus, dark-green and translucent when fresh, brown and almost horny when dry, flat or undulate, glossy, quite glabrous; veins radiating from the base, numerous, close, prominent, repeatedly dichotomous, spurious venules wanting. Sori very numerous, crowded, often encircling the whole of the margin of the frond. Indusium narrow cup-shaped or almost bell-shaped. Receptacle far-exserted, stout columnar, covered with sporangia.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 95; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 228; Raoul, Choix, 38; Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 115; Exot. Ferns, t. 2; Hook. and Grev. Ic. Fl. t. 31; Hook. f. Fl. Nov Zel. ii. 16; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 356; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 73; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 46; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 68, t. 2, f. 3. Crepidomanes reniforme, Presl.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: From the North Cape southwards, abundant in damp woods, except on the eastern side of Canterbury and Otago, where it is rare and local. Sea-level to 3000 ft. Kidney-fern; Raurenga.
A very distinct and beautiful species, quite unlike any other. The frond differs from that of all the other species in having from 4 to 6 layers of cellules. It is confined to New Zealand, its reported occurrence in Australia (Handb. N.Z. Fl. 747) not having been confirmed.
2. T. Lyallii, Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 77.—Small, pendulous, very delicate, clothing the trunks of trees in damp forests. Rhizome branched, creeping, capillary, sparingly clothed with simple or stellate red-brown hairs. Stipes 1–2 in. long, very slender, filiform. Fronds ¾–1½ in. long and broad, deltoid or sub-orbicular in outline, delicately membranous and diaphanous, digitately or flabellately divided almost to the base. Segments simple or dichotomously branched, linear, obtuse, flat, minutely denticulate; margins ciliated with branched rufous hairs. Sori few or many to a frond, deeply sunk in the tips of the segments. Indusium obconical, the width of the mouth about equalling the depth of the tube; margins ciliated, not dilated nor bordered. Receptacle included.—Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 45; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 70, t. 5, f. 4. Hymenophyllum Lyallii, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 16; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 355.
North and South Islands.—From the Great Barrier Island and Cape Colville southwards, not uncommon in dense moist forests, but rare or absent on the east coast of the South Island, plentiful in Westland and the south-west of Otago. Stewart Island: Mount Anglem, Kirk. Sea-level to 3000 ft.
Exactly intermediate between Trichomanes and Hymenophyllum, so far as the structure of the indusium is concerned. It is purely a matter of taste as to which genus it should be referred to.
